Help identifying very unusual strange fossil

[SMA2]

Hi can anyone tell me what this is? I've no idea what it is or where it's originally from, I'm assuming it's a fossil? 

 

My grandmother passed away a few years ago and it was amongst her possessions so we've no idea where it came from, however, it has a drilled hole running through the middle and its been polished, so at some point in the past it looks like its been worn as jewellery. Her father was a merchant sailor and so she had a number of items from around the world, so really it could have come from any country. Can anyone help?

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by SMA2
changed photos to jpeg not heic files

[R0b]

A chiton 

 

I don’t think it is fossilised 

[caterpillar]

+1 for Chiton, but recent

[RJB]

+2 for chiton.  Recent

 

RB

[Coco]

Certainly I can say that it is a current chiton. Can we see the underside? If it has not been worked, it must be hollow.

Look in my signature links, there is one with a lot of documents on the current chitons.

 

Coco

[SMA2]

Thank you so much everyone. I've looked up chitons and you are right! Here are a couple of photos of the underside, it is the same on both sides and has a line around it as if two have been stuck together, which is strange as the two halves look very similar, as if they were from the same creature. Investigating the inside further with some bendy wire, I've discovered that it is indeed hollow, but the shell is quite thick, but perhaps that's some kind of plaster that has been stuck to the underside of each shell to make it sturdy.

[Coco]

I would like to see a picture like the last one, but on the other side, because I don’t quite understand how the other picture was taken since the chiton is long.

 

The chitons still have eight plates. That’s what I count here, but the fact that the features are not quite opposite each other raises questions for me. Perhaps they are two individuals cut and glued together, this would explain the discontinuity of the lines, because the plates are continuous from one side to the other.

 

Here is a picture of one of the recent chitons in my collection. The colours and shape of the plates depend on the different species.

 

 

By the way, if someone knows a specialist of the current chitons, I’d like to have his/her contact details by MP because I can't identify all of them

Coco

Edited January 7, 2022 by Coco

[SMA2]

Thank you so much for your help Coco. I've taken a photo on each side. I'm wondering whether someone has found two similar chitons and sanded down the outer shells to show the blue underside on the top, then stuck the two shells together to make a rounded pendant that looks the same on both sides? The brown colour that is showing through is perhaps the orginal top colour???

[SMA2]

Sorry I've just realised my last post didn't quite make sense and I can't seem to edit it.

 

What I was trying to say is that it looks as if two similarly sized chiton shells have been stuck together to make a rounded pendant that looks the same on both sides. Then perhaps these outer shells have been sanded down/polished to remove the outer brown shell colour? Looking at some chitons online, it seems that they can be blue underneath, so perhaps the blue colour of my chiton is actually the underside colour showing through once the brown top shell coating has been sanded away? This would explain the brown ridges. What do you think?

[Mahnmut]

3 minutes ago, SMA2 said:

Sorry I've just realised my last post didn't quite make sense and I can't seem to edit it.

 

What I was trying to say is that it looks as if two similarly sized chiton shells have been stuck together to make a rounded pendant that looks the same on both sides. Then perhaps these outer shells have been sanded down/polished to remove the outer brown shell colour? Looking at some chitons online, it seems that they can be blue underneath, so perhaps the blue colour of my chiton is actually the underside colour showing through once the brown top shell coating has been sanded away? This would explain the brown ridges. What do you think?

I think thats exactly what you have there. I have also seen chitons that show some blue without being polished, but yours looks also very smooth.

Best Regards,

J

[Mahnmut]

Probably they also glued the single plates together, because as Coco stated, each chiton has eight plates that make up the shell and are only held together by the soft body of the animal.

[Coco]

I now understand your penultimate picture. I had not understood that there were two chitons glued under each other, letting appear the two "backs". So I think I understand that your picture with the hole is taken on one end. And on your last photo, the white line corresponds to the place rising the glue between the two chitons. Is that right? This explains why the plates are not perfectly aligned, at first I thought I saw only one chiton seen from above.

 

As for the color, it was surely revealed by a sanding of the plates. But there are also blue chitons visible on the outside : https://www.monaconatureencyclopedia.com/chiton-squamosus/?lang=fr

 

Coco

[SMA2]

Thank you everyone!

[Plax]

google "chiton jewelry". Lot's of nice pics.