Large Aturia (Nautiloid) From New Zealand

[Doctor Mud]

Hi guys,

Here's a large Miocene nautiloid (Aturia spp.) from the Miocene sediments of the north Canterbury coast in New Zealand.

I saw it from a distance and thought I was seeing a weathered gastropod or turret shell. A shame that there is a bit missing but interesting to be able to see the chambers and siphuncular tube. I still plan to prep out what is there. It would be nice to find a complete one of this size one day!

Its about 15 cm across.

Red dashed line shows a possible outline of the complete shell.

Another (dorsal) view showing the chambers and siphuncular tube.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Doctor Mud

[amour 25]

How the heck do you get that out?

Jeff

[fossilized6s]

Sweet! I can't wait to see her prepped out!

[taj]

Same question as Jeff...

[Doctor Mud]

The top bit (with the chambers) looks delicate and could be tricky to prep. out with the air scribe. Maybe strengthening with a consolidant inside might help?

The rest of the shell looks robust and should prep. out nicely.

[PaleoWilliam]

Cool!

[fossisle]

Any progress?

 

[Doctor Mud]

7 hours ago, fossisle said:

Any progress?

 

I’ll take a photo. Not finished yet as I haven’t had a prep space for a while. It is very sticky and I set it aside. 

Funny you mentioned it as I found my first one since I found this one this trip.

[RJB]

11 hours ago, Doctor Mud said:

It is very sticky and I set it aside. 

Hey Doc, may this is a candidate for a polish? 

 

RB

[Doctor Mud]

2 hours ago, RJB said:

Hey Doc, may this is a candidate for a polish? 

 

RB

Hi RB,

 

Sounds interesting! How would I do that? Scribe it down until the last layer of sticky matrix and then polish?

 

love to see some examples 

[Mark Kmiecik]

On 2/15/2015 at 8:46 AM, amour 25 said:

How the heck do you get that out?

Jeff

You put it in your bucket and walk back to the car.  Now that I have that out of my system, I can't wait to see the results too.

[RJB]

20 hours ago, Doctor Mud said:

Sounds interesting! How would I do that? Scribe it down until the last layer of sticky matrix and then polish?

 

love to see some examples

I get down close to the shell material and then start grinding away with my different grinding and sanding tools and then polish with a small polishing wheel.   I cant seem to find the pic of my polished Aturia? 

 

RB

 

 

Aluminum oxid grinding wheel and a sanding barrel.

[Doctor Mud]

Thanks @RJB always learning new things on here!

[RJB]

On 11/11/2019 at 3:36 PM, Doctor Mud said:

Thanks @RJB always learning new things on here!

Now that ive re-read my last post I see that I forgot to tell you that the sanding barrels come in different grits from course to fine. 

 

RB