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Good Morning everyone, I have a toddler who recently got very much into dinosaurs and fossils which eventually brought back all my childhood afflictions and memories to same. We stopped my a small fossil shop near Austin where we both went crazy with all the variety. Needless to say he got some very nice, small items. I spent quite a lot on a few pieces with the hype and childhood yearn to always have in possession a few Real items. Upon our arrival at home and in closer inspection as well as researching online, I'm not sure if I purchased authentic fossils. PLEASE HELP ME! My first post with is a Megalodon Tooth that he said was fused on a crack. I’ll post some others thereafter.

Can anyone identify these structures protruding from the top and bottom of the fish?

Well, I’m finally getting to dig into my truckload of fossils from my Wyoming trip with @RJB so it’s my turn to open up a prep thread. I spent a couple hours today poking around to find the perfect fish to start with. The 18” layer never disappoints. This good sized Diplomystus has 2 Knightia on top of it. I’m going to try to save both but I’m concerned that the right hand one is covering most of the Diplo’s skull. If that’s the case, the little guy will have to go! This is after about 90 minutes of scribe work.

FYI @Ptychodus04 @Kittenmittens @mamlambo @Fossilis Willis @Malcolmt @DevonianDigger Well managed to get out last Friday to dig up some Green River fish from the split fish layers. These layers aren't nice and hard like the 18 inch, nor are the rarer fish as obtainable (they don't preserve as well), but you can still find some pretty cool stuff. A family next to me found a foot long Phareodus in perfect condition with a dark red color (forgot to take a picture of that). I don't think they realize just how lucky they are because those are not easy to find. The night before it rained a ton so I had a hard time getting to the quarry. The oily lime based rock wouldn't split properly until about noon but I hauled some decent Knightia's out. These aren't your prized, rare, fish but they are still a blast to dig up. Pulled out about fifty and worked all day. With all the mud and rain I seriously didn't think anyone would show up but Friday was very busy. About fifty in total came. The morning was tough. Lots of muddy rock to split and it just didn't want to split evenly. Everything would crumble on me. As you can see in the picture below things were muddy and wet. This Knightia has some pretty nice curves. Another curvaceous fossil. I'm in love. The split fish come in their varieties. Usually I only keep the ones that are completely filled in then put a sealant over them. This one looks alright considering it's a bit patchy. This one will be fun to prepare with my new CP9361 and some very careful handling of the scribe. This is one of my A grade Knightia's from the trip. Great color. The tail can be teased out a bit more. I really like how the vertebrae pop out in a 3D manner. Keep on fossiling!

Hi everyone, are parts of this Knightia painted? Bought from a pretty reputable dealer, not a dubious random online seller.

i just got this knightia fossil recently and i was wondering if there anyway to protect it from flaking because they look pretty thin to me . I'm only an amateur collector and joined the forum recently so i'm don't know much about stuff like this.

I bought a small set of paints recently in a medium I had never used before, gouache. It's a lot like watercolor, but more opaque. I've always liked the look of watercolor but I've been more comfortable with acrylics. I thought I'd give the gouache paints a try, and I think I'm going to like them. Here's a Knightia I painted today, with an attached fossil Knightia. At least I think it's a Knightia. It's not preserved terribly well. I'm planning on painting some more knightia, probably a school of them, then a Diplomystus and maybe move on from there. It should be interesting.

My wife and I just got back from a week’s driving tour through Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. We stopped in at American Fossil Quarry outside of Kemmerer, Wyoming, for a few hours to dig for Green River fish. It was a productive day, and we both bagged some nice finds. Seth, the owner of the quarry and a TFF member, wasn’t there that day, but his assistant, Nick, was very helpful in getting us started. I brought a bag full of tools which were mostly unnecessary. As Nick pointed out, all you really need is a brick hammer and a thin chisel, both of which they provide. I noted that since this was the end of the season and the chisels had undoubtedly seen hard use all summer, they had pretty blunt tips. I had brought my own set from Geo-Tools (http://www.geo-tools.com/fossil-rock-chisels/custom-thin-rock-splitting-chisels) and found the 1/16-inch chisel with a single bevel was particularly useful. My wife used the chisel they supplied and was quite successful. The floor of the quarry was covered with a fine powder of shale. We worked for 3 hours before the wind picked up and started blowing the powder around so much we decided to call it a day. Nick loaded our fossils onto a cart and took me over to a line of saws that can be used to get rid of the excess matrix and trim the specimens down to a reasonable size. After a quick tutorial I was happily working on my own trimming down all my specimens. I noted the saw was a Chicago Electric 10”, 2.5 HP tile saw like they sell at Harbor Freight: https://www.harborfreight.com/10-in-25-hp-tilebrick-saw-69275.html. But the blade was definitely much better than you can get at Harbor Freight. It was a 10” blade designed for dry cutting without the need for water. I was very impressed with the saw and wouldn’t hesitate to buy one from HF if I had enough need for it. But I’d look elsewhere for a top-quality blade. About 10 years ago we had visited the Warfield quarry across the road, and they had us digging right up against the rock wall where you could either split loose shale or extract your own shale right from the wall (which was a bit of a chore even at my then-younger age). At American Fossil Quarry, they extract the shale for you with a giant excavator and lay it out in rows of piles for you to access. Probably a lot safer than being right up against a crumbly rock wall. You don’t get the chance to record exact location and orientation of the fossils in-situ, but unless you are a professional paleontologist you won’t care. As Nick said, this is a commercial quarry, not a scientific expedition. The fun is in finding the fossils, of which we found plenty, even in the space of only 3 hours. I’d strongly encourage anyone to stop in at this quarry. The dirt road is reasonable for the family car right up to the descent at the quarry entrance. It’s then a bit of an adventure if you don’t have 4WD (which we fortunately did), but at the bottom there were even large travel trailers that had made it down safely. Be sure to mention that you are a member of The Fossil Forum and they will give you a 10% discount. Here are some photos of a few of our finds. My ID’s on them are tentative, so if anyone has any corrections, please let me know. Full collection after trimming: Mioplosus labracoides: Diplomystus dentatus: Small Diplomystus: Diplomystus needing more prep:

I’m now prepping what appears to be a Knightia that I received from @RJB. Apparently, this fish came from the diamond layer of the GRF. Here’s what it look ones like to start:

I recently purchased this Green River Knightia plate at an incredibly cheap price. I got it because of what I was pretty sure was some coprolite on the back. I am sure you know more about this stuff than I do- so was I right? Also is that bone infront of the fish? Thanks!

sooo.... i found this on the "auction site" as you peeps llike to call it. and i would LOVE to buy it. buuuuttt is it real? also how do i post pics?

I have a surplus of fossils from Utah and Wyoming. From UT I have a bunch of Elrathia and Asaphiscus trilobites. From Wyoming fossil fish mainly Knightia but I do have one Mioplosus. What I'm looking for are trilobites outside of Utah, ammonites, and shark teeth or any other kind of tooth such as Therapod, Cetacean, crocodile, etc. Here's a picture of some of the fossils. I also have some Chesapecten from Maryland sitting in my desk drawers.

FYI @Ptychodus04 @RJB I have some Herkimer Green River Formation fish I just dug up last month and they look really nice but half of them are covered in the sedimentary limestone. There's a bunch that are halfway covered. The matrix is real sticky and just doesn't want to come off. I tried pulling off chunks with some dental tools but had to quickly stop as that was damaging the fossil. Every time I pull up a chunk it takes the fossil with it. I'm thinking about getting a nice air scribe. I found a nice Chicago Pneumatic CP-9361 but have heard that these scribes can be tough on fossils. All these fish are from the split fish layers and I've heard this layer can be challenging to work with. Should I pickup the CP-9361 or go for another scribe such as an AERO/ARO? I can't seem to find an AERO/ARO anywhere. Paleotools sells a modified ARO but those are about $650 and that's a bit past my budget. What are your thoughts? I was also going to get a decent sized air compressor that goes up to 125 PSI. Thanks everyone. Here's a picture with some of the fish. The bottom right fish are good but the rest need to be prepared out.

Hey guys!! My UPS box of everything I brought back from my pay-to-dig trip in Wyoming came in today!! Here's what I ended up with fully unboxed. I brought home a bunch of half fish to work on my preparing skills before I tackle the complete ones. The last two big pieces at the end measure 24x18 approx and have 6 or 7 fish on them. I'll take more pictures of them tonight as I un(bubble)wrap them.

The Green River Formation is one of the most well-known fossil sites in the world, occupying present-day Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. This Lagerstätte has been noted for its well-preserved fish fossils, as well as numerous invertebrates, plants, and sometimes even reptiles and birds. Green River fossils are Eocene-aged, at 53.5 to 48.5 million years old. Thankfully, not only are Green River fossils attractive, they also remain affordable to the casual collector. Allow me to present my humble collection. Crocodile tooth Borealosuchus sp. Southwest Wyoming Water bird tracks (possibly sandpipers or plovers) Presbyorniformipes feduccii Vernal, Utah Bird feather Aves indet. Southwest Wyoming Crane flies & Mosquitoes Pronophlebia rediviva & Culex sp. Parachute Creek Member; Douglas Pass, Colorado

When I was at the Tucson fossil show I picked up several slabs of unprepared Green River fish from the 18-inch layer. I've been working on this Knightia and have a few questions. I only have hand tools so I have been carefully removing matrix using some pin vises with various needle tools I picked up from PaleoTools. Here's how it looks so far: First question: If you look in the areas of the anal fin and the dorsal fin, there appear to be random swatches of organic material not associated with the body. Perhaps these are regions that "blew up" as the fish was decomposing. Should I be removing these and trying to restore the original outline of the fish or should I leave them alone? For example, here's a closeup of the dorsal area: Next question. It's been difficult to remove all the last bits of matrix with needle tools. The photo below shows the bits of matrix remaining in areas around the backbone. I don't think I can do much more on it with needles. Would it help if I were to invest in something like a Paasche AECR air abrasive tool or should I stop here. I would need a compressor, blast cabinet, and all the paraphernalia if I were to do this, but if it would help I might consider it.

Hi. Good afternoon to everyone! In one lot, the seller is selling these two fossil fish. Please, then I have two questions: 01 - Any makeup or paint here? It's real? 02 - Which one is Knightia eocaena and which one is Knightia alta? Or are the two of a specie? Thanks for all the comments! Fish 01 Fish 02

Splitting some dried limestone this past weekend and out popped the largest Knightia I’ve ever collected. The rock split down the middle but I’ll use some EC-9000 industrial sealant to link the two pieces back together. Should turn out nice. Thinking of framing this one up in a shadow box. Used a dental pick to carefully expose the fins that were buried in sedimentary rock.

I was fortunate to be the winning bidder on a rolling auction lot of two Knightia eocaena, one prepped and one unprepped, generously offered by @FossilDudeCO to benefit this awesome forum. It took me awhile, but I finally finished the prepping of the unprepped fish, and I wanted to share it here. These rolling auctions are nearly always great bargains, and the best part is they all help to keep the lights on here at TFF. Here's a link to the original posting for these Knightia. Here's how it began: And here's the result of my novice efforts (this was my second attempt at prepping a fish from the 18-inch layer): I'm happy with the way it came out and I'm proud to give it a little space on my crowded shelves. Thanks, Blake! I didn't keep track of the time it took, probably about 15 hours, more or less, with my "primitive" tools. I started with a dental pick, but this fish was already so close to the surface I didn't need to remove a whole lot of matrix. Most of the prep was done with a sewing needle held in a mechanical pencil, at first, and then in a pin vise of sorts. Actually it was an X-acto knife handle. I took lots of photos along the way, with the idea that I might turn them into an animation someday, but getting everything to line up properly might be more work than I want to tackle. I greatly enjoyed the whole prep process, and I'm looking forward to another project. I'm sure it's much slower than and air abrasive system, and not quite as "finished", but I do prefer the peace and quiet of the pick and needle. I wouldn't want to tackle a monster fish that way though! Mike

Well I haven't had much time to go fossil hunting since we made an offer on our home. We are moving in on Saturday. I'm so excited. Two weeks ago my wife allowed me to take an excursion for fish fossils in Wyoming with her cousin Luke. Little did the twelve year old boy know what he was getting into. This would be his first fossil hunting experience but he also experienced the following: first off roading experience, first taste of beef jerky, first time to Wyoming, and first time to a Sonic drive through. Being in the middle of Wyoming I diligently followed Google Maps which led us off roading. I have done some crazy stuff in my lifetime (i.e. sky diving) and have been really worried. This was one of those times. The off roading experience started us off on a dirt road with deep tracks from tires with chains for getting through snow. At one point I had to keep my left wheel in the middle of the road and my right wheel was off road with the right side of the vehicle slamming into rocks and sage brush. Thankfully we made it out. The quarry was amazing. Here are a bunch of pictures going back to our trip to my parents cabin in Island Park near Yellowstone and the new home. Heading out for date night at a nearby ski resort in Utah. Here we are at the Sundance ski resort for an outdoor play. My wife insisted we take a selfie. You can tell that I'm not a big fan of selfies. This is Bear World located in Rexburg, Idaho. We stopped here on our way up to Island Park. Bear World is a zoo for wild animals native to North America. Cute little fawn. American Bison. This Black Bear decided he didn't want to move so we had to wait for a few minutes. Big Grizzly Bear waking up after an afternoon nap. This is my brother Spencer holding my daughter Clara. He has a little son and I can tell he really wants a daughter. The Caldera pots of Yellowstone. The sulfuric smell was horrible but the sight was interesting and pleasantly warm. This may look like an inviting hot tub but is dangerously hot. Having our picture taken near the falls. Old Faithful My dad and I went to his secret spot near the cabin for some fishing on Saturday morning. I ended up catching thirty rainbow trout but only kept three. My father caught a bunch but only kept a few. We had enough fish to feed our families for lunch (keep in mind not everybody had trout as there were hamburgers). Clara loves the great outdoors. My mother really enjoyed spending time with her only granddaughter. My four young nephews really adored her as well. I had to share this one. A few weeks ago I came home to see my young daughter smiling up at me. That made up for the long day I had at work. This is where I decided it was time to turn the Subaru back. That hill was rather steep with loose gravel and even with X-mode and Incline mode set I couldn't make it up and the other side of the hill didn't look promising. Almost ran down into this deep crevice. It's a good thing I was going really slow. As you can see there are no roads up here. Luke is being a good sport, but he was a bit nervous about the whole ordeal as was I. Thankfully we made it out. We ended taking another dirt road and coming to this sign. Definitely turning back this time. Bad road! This was the "bad road." Doesn't look to rough but over the bend it could "evolve" into something nasty. Despite the rough start Luke is still looking forward to getting at those fossil fish. Almost there! That sign notes that off roading is illegal. I'll keep that in mind for next time as I was unaware. I notified Luke that he couldn't keep anything over 100k. And we are here! Within the hour discovered this massive Mioplosus that shattered upon extraction. I had no clue it was in the limestone. The stuff is so brittle it just popped right out in pieces. I left it out in the open for the brave preparer who would try his hand at this heart breaker. I keep forgetting to take pictures of fossil extractions on site. Managed to snap this photo while heading out. The car definitely needs a good washing inside and out. The serenity of Wyoming. A heard of Antelope running up the gorge. Here is Luke's amused face. The preservation on this Knightia oceana pair isn't great but what's interesting is that they are inverted against each other. Another pair. The bottom fish is well preserved. Close up. Another K. oceana. This is a K. oceana but looks like a miniature Piranha. Excellent preservation. Another K. oceana. A K. oceana and what I believe is a Diplomystus bottom right that needs some preparation. This will be the location for a new fossil preparation bench. The space looks small on camera but is surprisingly large at 7ft wide by 3 ft deep. Lots of fossil fish. More fish. One of the plates had seven K. oceana but I had to cut that one down (too big). I'm not sure what species the fish is bottom right but it's about the size of a dinner plate. Here is a decent Mipolosus that should prep out well. @Ptychodus04 this is the specimen I told you about. What would you recommend for this fish in terms of exposing it. Any other feedback from TFF members is welcome. The big plate sized fish. K. oceana K. oceana A plate of K. oceana. This is a beautiful Priscacara. @sseth father helped me to extract it and he said that this was one of four found that day. Unfortunately it was already split from the first hammer hit but I do have the other half. @Ptychodus04 recently you worked on a GRF fish that needed to be glued back together. Mind if I send you this project? I'll pay you or add some new features to the website. I'm a bit worried about messing this one up. The spikes look really neat and I do have the complete half that goes with it. Should turn out to be a rather neat looking fossil. This Diplomystus was a trip maker. It's not that large but has fine detail. I applied an air scribe from the rock quarry to the back portion as the tail was covered in limestone sediment. This one is currently on display at my office at work. All of my coworkers are green with envy. Measuring out the work bench. Picked up a large shelf for storing fossils on in the garage. Here is the backyard. The neighborhood is built against a mountain so the backyard is a hill with terraces. I'll plant a garden and trees on the terraces. I can't wait to move in this Saturday. View of Utah Lake from the backyard. Right next to the lake is the city of Lehi. These sunflowers grow well in the desert region of Utah and require very little water. @SailingAlongToo here are some pictures for you. I ordered these fine paintings from the Annapolis Marine Art Gallery in Annapolis. They weren't cheap but should look really nice. This painting is the HMS Surprise the British frigate featured in Master and Commander. This is Beyond the Mark and one of the most famous paintings by Willard Bond. The painting depicts the abstractness of a regatta race. Mr. Bond frequented Maryland to witness these ships racing each other. He is considered to be one of the greatest ship painters of our modern day. This is one of my favorites and depicts a sail boat returning home from a day in the bay. In the background is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge linking the western shore to the eastern shore. At one point in time the bay bridge was the largest man made bridge in the USA. To this day it's one of the older bridges in the country and was built in 1952. I have fond memories of this area from my Calvert Cliff days. I also spent countless weekends in Annapolis. If you ever get a chance to visit the east coast the Chesapeake Bay is a must see. Neat picture of Lone Peak mountain right outside my wife's parents home. It was overcast that day and the clouds sat right on top of the mountain. Close up of the Mioplosus. Another shot of the backyard from the top. I'm in love.

My collection is quite meager compared to everyone else's, and most were bought, but I was excited to show it off anyway. I received two riker cases yesterday (though one was missing two pins, so I haven't put it together yet) to put my shells in from my Walton on the Naze finds. I'll need a deeper case for some of the other shells that aren't displayed. Other than the shells and the two corals on the sides of the knightia fish, the rest have been purchased.

So I have this small block of Green River matrix that has fish material. When I got it, A part has been prepped, exposing most of it, but then I checked the corners, saw more covered material, and realized that it could be prepped even further. The problem is, I don't have any prepping tools because I've never prepped a fossil before But maybe is there any household tools that could efficiently prep Green River matrix? I just need to remove one tiny layer.