Identify a fossil

[SVG]

Hi,

I inherited some fossils from my father, and I am trying to identify them. Can someone tell me what kind of fossil is in the attached photo? 

Also, during shipping, the crack in the plate occurred. Does that affect the value of the overal plate significantly? 

Thanks in advance for assistance!

SVG

[Kane]

Topic moved to FOSSIL ID.

 

This looks to me like an unprepared Green River Formation fish from Wyoming.

[SVG]

If I mentioned that my father lived in Belgium and usually purchased his fossils in person at fossil shows there (not online), would that make a difference to the identification? I don't know how much fossils tend to move around. 

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[Kane]

Probably not. Green River Formation fish are fairly common and very well known internationally, so it is almost a certainty that they would appear for sale at any and all rock/fossil shows. 

 

You should probably see about getting it prepared. You could possibly do it yourself fairly easily with some hand tools and a lot of patience. Let me tag one of our fish experts to weigh in @Fossildude19.

[SVG]

Thanks! It'll be interesting to find out how to prepare it. 

Knowing my father, it does sound like a likely fish. He was interested in fossils in general, but didn't go too deep or specific about what he collected, so I would expect most of his specimens to be relatively common. 

[Kane]

Possibly common, but no less valuable in terms of sentimental value.  

If you have exacto blades and a pin vise (or sewing needles), you can give it a go. Of course, it is always good to know what the proverbial picture on the puzzle box looks like before starting out, so when our fish guy can chime in, you'll hopefully have a more definitive ID. Our Fossil Preparation subforum is a goldmine for advice on how to prep these lovely Eocene fishies. 

[Fossildude19]

I cannot see any pictures.   

[SVG]

Not sure why some can see the pictures and others can't. Let me try a different method of attaching files.

[Fossildude19]

This is likely a Knightia eocaena from the Green River Formation, as Kane stated. 

 

@Ptychodus04  @RJB  

 

[RJB]

  Most likely Knightia as stated above.  The most common fish in the Green River Formation.  Looks like its in some purty good rock too so it very well may be a very well preserved fish too.  The broken piece of rock is a simple fix and will make the slab be square again.  Best of luck

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

Without some reference to scale, I would agree with the others. It’s probably a Knightia.

[SVG]

Thanks for this information. How do I repair the broken rock? Is there a particular type of glue to use? Knightia seems reasonable based on the pictures that I have seen. I would estimate the plate size to be around 10"x10" (don't have it next to me to measure). Wow. I didn't realize that there could be a whole fish fossil deeper in the rock. I will have to get the rest of the pieces out and get IDs on those. There were some labels but they haven't stayed with the pieces. 

[Ptychodus04]

You can simply glue it with super glue.

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

To answer your questions on whether the part having broken off will affect value (we're not allowed to talk about absolute valuations, but I'm presuming relative estimations will be allowed), and how to restore it: seeing that Knightia eocaena is a relatively common and comparatively not too expensive fossil, I'd say the break wouldn't affect it's overall value too much, mostly in visual appeal and possible sentimental value. As such, you can either repair the fossil or not: especially if intended for your own use, this would be an entirely personal choice. However, a square slab looks a lot neater, and as the break here appears a clean one, I'd say repairing the plate would not be a bad idea. Not sure how this would affect resale value (is this an allowed question, if I'm "fishing" for answers in the "yes" or "no" realm?), though. But I doubt the fish will extend to the broken corner, seeing as the length and direction of the spine, so you wouldn't need to worry about that.

 

As to glueing the corner back in place, this can, as Kris has already said, easiest be done with superglue. There are special CA (cyanoacrylate) glues with different viscosities on the market designed with fossil preparation in mind, of course. But as commercially available superglue is also a CA-glue, this should suffice for a start. Just have a go on something else first to see how viscous/fluid it is, so that you know how best to apply is here. That having been said, CA-glues can easily be cleaned up after a spill by using acetone - which isn't to say that you should spill it too freely, as I can imagine that the Green River matrix would suck up fluid glues quite well, which is hard to clean and can lead to discolouration...

 

Anyway, good luck! If applied with sufficient patience, this can be a fun project to work on and remember your father with