Hi all,
I recently acquired the below fossil, a pair of articulated jaws, purportedly from Pachystropheus rhaeticus, still with teeth, found at Garden Cliff/Westbury-on-Severn. Whether I wasn't paying proper attention when I bought it or just hoping there wouldn't be any pyrite on the piece, when I received the specimen it turned out that there are quite numerous pyrite-crystals growing to the side of the fossil. As it's quite an unusual piece that I'd rather like to keep, I'm now looking for people with experience with pyrite from the Garden Cliff location. In essence, I'd like to ask how stable the pyrite from this location typically is: whether it decays into a black oxidation product or starts blooming with time. How concerned should I be about the stability of this piece? The pyrite itself looks relatively clean right now, so I'm thinking the rock on which the fossil sits hadn't been exposed for too long. But any advice would be welcome.
@Welsh Wizard @Pterygotus @DanJeavs