Lucky finds at a gem/mineral/fossil show

[FossilDAWG]

On Friday I made a visit to an Atlanta area gem/mineral/fossil show.  Generally I have poor luck at these shows, in large part because there are only a couple of dealers with fossils.  

 

This trip was different.  One of the dealers was selling some items from an old collection.  Most of what I bought was exciting to me because they are species I have wanted for a long time, for one reason or another.

 

First up is a nice (to me at least) New Jersey Tiassic coelocanth, Diplurus newarki (I think the genus might have changed but Diplurus is OK for now).  The dealer thought it was just a skull so it was very cheap, as the rock is very black and it was hard to see the skeleton in the room lighting.  I used the flashlight on my phone to give oblique light and was very happy at what I saw!

He also had some ammonites I was excited to see.  Two are Triassic, a Ceratites nodosus and an Acanthoceratites spinosum from Germany.  I collected a Ceratites when I was a kid (about 10) living in Germany, but it broke and all I have left is a piece.  I've wanted a better specimen for roughly the last 50 years!  I started to clean out the inner whorls on the Acanthoceratites but that will take quite a while.

There was a third ammonite that was labeled as another Triassic species, but when I got home I recognized that it is actually a Placenticeras, a Late Cretaceous genus.  I am not sure of the species and the preservation is different from the North American sites I know about, so I suspect it might be from a European source.  I'll post more photos in the Fossil ID thread to see if anyone recognizes it.

I also scored a trilobite I've wanted forever, an Elliposocephalus hoffi.  Not because it is especially pretty, but because it is representative of the Chechosolakian Cambrian that is so important in trilobite lore.  I also grabbed a nice Calymene celebra.

Last up for now is an OK shrimp from Lebanon.  The body is all authentic, but I'm not 100% sure about the appendages.  It's pretty nice though so I like it.

There are a few other little things but the above is enough for now.  When I got home a box of New Mexico ammonites from the Christmas auction was waiting for me, which made a good day even better!

 

Don

[Darktooth]

Your scored some nice specimens! Tim, @Fossildude19 will want to see your fish!

Edited December 12, 2022 by Darktooth

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very nice indeed.

It's lovely when you come across something you've always wanted and doubly so (for me) when you can replace a sentimental piece from your collection that's been lost or broken. 

 

[Darktooth]

I also have the same problem with the show my local club hosts. Lots of gems and minerals, and very few fossil dealers. And we lost the best fossil dealer we had 2 years ago.

[Fossildude19]

Great acquisitions, Don!

Wonderful coelacanth!!!  Yes, it is Diplurus newarki. Genus hasn't changed, as far as I know.

Great ammonites trilobites, and shrimp, as well.

Congratulations on the amazing show finds!

[siteseer]

When I started collecting fossils in the late 80's, there was at least one dealer who had a couple of flats of the Ellipsocephalia and Calymene.  I remember because I bought one of each.  I see them as old catalogue listings now and haven't seen either at a show in years.

 

Yeah, the antennae and legs on that shrimp are probably too good/uniform to be real but the artist didn't overdo it.  You will able to see if it's paint under magnification.

 

It's great to find something you've wanted for years.  I know that feeling too.  For me it was a beaver tooth from a site in the Kettleman Hills in Kings County, CA.  I haven't found any vertebrate specimens in my trips there but friends have and it's one of the animals listed in the old paper on it.  I was going to try to trade for one, but several years ago, I found a little jaw section at a local show.

[jpc]

as a guy who does not really buy fossils, I might have bought that NJ ceolocanth.  Great Find!

 

[FossilNerd]

12 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Generally I have poor luck at these shows, in large part because there are only a couple of dealers with fossils. 

 

12 hours ago, Darktooth said:

I also have the same problem with the show my local club hosts. Lots of gems and minerals, and very few fossil dealers. And we lost the best fossil dealer we had 2 years ago.

 

It’s the same at my small local show. Their focus is more mineral and less fossil. There are, at most, two fossil vendors, but on occasion you can find a good deal from a mineral vendor just trying to offload a fossil they happened to get in a bulk buy of something similar.

 

Very nice finds Don! I wasn’t so lucky at my show this year, but you made out like a champ! I really like the Lebanon shrimp.  

[rocket]

wow, what a good day for you! Sometimes we had luck too on mineral-shows nearby. Where you normally do not go to, because there are mostly bad minerals from regional collectors. 

The Diplurus is great, wow  Hard to get a good one on special fossil shows like tucson or Denver, never expect one on a small mineral fair... 

The "Placenticeras", could you post a pic from the back side and the Venter? I am unsure if it is Placenticeras, think its a french or southwestern-germany one from lower jurassic. The Ceratites are nice, not easy to get as good ones as you picked up in the field in a week..., so that´s fast digging!

 

[Jeffrey P]

Congrats on those purchases. I have collected quite a few times from the quarry where that Diplurus newarki is from and I have to say that specimens as fine as that are extremely hard to come by. 

[rocket]

13 hours ago, siteseer said:

When I started collecting fossils in the late 80's, there was at least one dealer who had a couple of flats of the Ellipsocephalia and Calymene.  I remember because I bought one of each.  I see them as old catalogue listings now and haven't seen either at a show in years.

 

the czech-trilos became rare, it was (and as I know, is) forbidden to dig there. restricted military area. We have seen many of them on European shows at this time up to perhaps 1995, now they come up sometimes from old collections. I remember a dealer in Tucson in 2019 or 20 having some of them. Perhaps it is possible to dig there again, as we are in " not war"-time collectors could be faster than the soldiers. But, I don´t like to try , all soldiers I know are well trained..., better than me 

[sixgill pete]

Magnificent Don. It's always nice to score species ypu have long waited for.