RJB Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Ok all you snail lovers out there. I do wish I had all my pictures from a few years ago, but I lost them all when my computer got infected and was not smart enough at the time to have saved them all! But anyways, here is a super nice gastro that a teacher friend of mine found while we were hunting together. I was able to finagle it from him, so it is now in my collection. Its about the bestest ever Polonices (spelling?) that ive got. This superb specimen was found in the Rio Dell Formaiton in Northern California and is Pliocene in age. Wow!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kauffy Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 WOOO Nice Snail :huh: !!! gotta love them gastropods! :lol: "Turn the fear of the unknown into the excitment of possibility!"We dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 Ok, here is one of my favorites, but not my best, im saving that for last. About 3 years ago I found a concreted layer of gastropods late in the year when the water level of the Eel River was super low. Even then I had to take my shoes off and get in the water. I was always on the lookout for gastropods, and in the first 10 years of hunting at this site, I had maybe 5 or 6 good ones. then in one weekend, I found all these super wonderful and very beautiful gastro's. It took me 3 days and lots of sledgehammer and chisle work, but I still to this day still have about 5 to work on, but here is a super nice triple specimen!!! Wow!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geofossil Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 wow! Those look fantastic in matrix. I have many similar genera of that age but your specimens in the matrix gives added perspective. (the spelling of the first is 'Polynices') Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Owens Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Ok, here is one of my favorites, but not my best, im saving that for last. About 3 years ago I found a concreted layer of gastropods late in the year when the water level of the Eel River was super low. Even then I had to take my shoes off and get in the water. I was always on the lookout for gastropods, and in the first 10 years of hunting at this site, I had maybe 5 or 6 good ones. then in one weekend, I found all these super wonderful and very beautiful gastro's. It took me 3 days and lots of sledgehammer and chisle work, but I still to this day still have about 5 to work on, but here is a super nice triple specimen!!! Wow!!! One of my favorites, fossil(s) in the matrix. Nice specimen. :cool: -----"Your Texas Connection!"------ Fossils: Windows to the past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 Thanks guys, and thanks for the spelling Geofossil. Im not very good at spelling. Plus it makes it harder for me going by memory. Im in the middle of trying to make dinner and get some pics with posts on here too. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 Ok, this is my best favorite single snail specimen of all time. Ive prepped out many gastropods, but when I was prepping out this one, I found a 'flang' on the exterior of the outer margin. I had not seen that before! Im thinking it must be an old adult specimen, but its just cooler than you know what to me. I literally fell in love with this snail! Oh, this snail is known as Neptunia (sulcosipho) tabulata and is also the largest one ive ever found. It also took me lots of hours with my air abrasive unit to clean out all the shoulder areas!!! Wheeeeew!!! Enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Owens Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Ok, this is my best favorite single snail specimen of all time. Ive prepped out many gastropods, but when I was prepping out this one, I found a 'flang' on the exterior of the outer margin. I had not seen that before! Im thinking it must be an old adult specimen, but its just cooler than you know what to me. I literally fell in love with this snail! Oh, this snail is known as Neptunia (sulcosipho) tabulata and is also the largest one ive ever found. It also took me lots of hours with my air abrasive unit to clean out all the shoulder areas!!! Wheeeeew!!! Enjoy One fantastic specimen!! Thank you! -----"Your Texas Connection!"------ Fossils: Windows to the past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 One fantastic specimen!! Thank you! You are very welcome Mr. Mike Owens. I really do like showing off my specimens. Its nice to share and for lots of other fossil like folks to see too. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 6, 2008 Author Share Posted January 6, 2008 Aaaaalrighty then. Here is another great specimen. I was lucky enough to have just bought and hooked up my brand new Air Abrasive unit when I found this specimen. I was air scribing around the apex of this gastro to make it look neato and very 3-D when I hit apon a slight dark line. I knew it was fish bone because I had found enough to know, but was super afraid to go on the prep attack because the bone is soooooo thin. Well, I got up the courage and went for it! I worked very slowly with the airscribe and then to the abrasive unit and back and forth and back and forth with both those for a few hours and I actually did it!! I was in heaven!!! The complete snail is known as Neptunia smirnia and the partial is a Neptunia (sulcosipho) tabulata. I have no idea as to what fish the verts came from, but its just cooler than you know what!!! RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Very nice prep work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 6, 2008 Author Share Posted January 6, 2008 Very nice prep work Thank you Anson. I think in about 20 more years I may get purty good at it. Belive me, I have invented some new cuss words since ive started prepping!!! RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 hahahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 6, 2008 Author Share Posted January 6, 2008 hahahaha Yeah, funny now, but back when I started prepping crabs, I would get soooooo upset!! Ive still not found a perfect crab! I would just have to put aside whatever I was prepping and come back in a day or two or whatever and start from there once I calmed down. Belive me, when a beautiful crab carapace with both claws are coming out really good and then you start to follow the legs out adn all of sudden one just comes to a stop!!! It really sucks!!! Lobsters too!! But I still have tons of fun prepping. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Really great gastropods! I know some don't care for the shine but I do. Bet that is how they looked while living (the shine on the shell). Well, now that you mention crabs, I know you have some really cool ones, can I twist your arm to post a few of the ones you have prepped? Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kauffy Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 More beautifull Gastropods :lol: thanks for sharing!! That one with the Fish verts is a very nice find! Have you ever found any fish teeth or partial Skulls? "Turn the fear of the unknown into the excitment of possibility!"We dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 6, 2008 Author Share Posted January 6, 2008 Hey Roz, I will post some crabs pics soon. and Kauffe, I have found only 2 or 3 fish teeth, and also 3 fish skulls, but only the fused part of the skulls. Most of the fossil vertibrates found in norhtern cal are single bones. It must have been turbulent times. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Ok all you snail lovers out there. I do wish I had all my pictures from a few years ago, but I lost them all when my computer got infected and was not smart enough at the time to have saved them all! But anyways, here is a super nice gastro that a teacher friend of mine found while we were hunting together. I was able to finagle it from him, so it is now in my collection. Its about the bestest ever Polonices (spelling?) that ive got. This superb specimen was found in the Rio Dell Formaiton in Northern California and is Pliocene in age. Wow!!! Re- spelling of "Polonices", Both Polynices and Polinices are valid genus names. I don't know which belongs to your snail as both are in the Family "Naticidae". I think I remember that K.V. Palmer in her publication, Catalog of the Paleocene and Eocene Mollusca... (Bulletins of American Paleontology, Vol 48) held that Polynicies = Polinices and preferred the spelling Polinices. They are great looking fossils. Mollusks and especially snails are some of my favorites. The size of those are fantastic. I have collected snails from the Texas Eocene but they generally run to the small or even micro size. JKFoam The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 EXCELLENT prep work! I like the photos of the progress of the work. I need to do more of that. Very well done!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 I was going through some old posts of mine this morning and realized on this thread that I didnt put on my bestest of all time gastropod conc! This freakin beauty took me quite awhile to chisle it off this concreted layer that was actually in the river. It was a giant bulge in the layer and under water, and quite a bit larger by about 4 times than what you see in the photos! I then rolled it over to the bank and got my 12 pound sledge and started WACKING!!! At first the sledge would just bounce and bounce and I was about to give up when all of a sudden I heard that distintive sound and saw a little crack. I got out one of my chisles and gently pried it open and just about had a Heart Attack!!! In all the 15 years Ive been looking for gastros out there, this was by far and away the bestest snail rock ever!!! WoooooHooooooo!!!! And not only that, but right in the middle is a complete Neptunia fusitriton! I had never found a whole one before! There is also a Neptunia lyrata on the far right, so I have 3 different species of gastros on this beauty!!! It still needs lots more prep work to finish it, but maybe someday I will let it go for about $37,479.23 HA!!! enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kauffy Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 That is one seriously nice Gastropod plate, i guess all that hard work getttin' it out, banging on it and prepping it payed off! would have been pretty bad if you smashd it open and there was nothing inside!!! You know you want to show us more... :lol: keep em comin'!!!!! Chris "Turn the fear of the unknown into the excitment of possibility!"We dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 Believe Mr Kauffy, I have broken up thousands of concs of all sizes and from doezens of different places and have come up empty. Thats just the way it is for most concs and most places. So getting a conc this nice and this rare is really really nice. The guy who keeps at it finds the best stuff? RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cris Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 RB, I about had a heart attack just looking at that... I couldn't imagine finding it.... That is just beautiful... I hope you keep that one displayed well somewhere.. It deserves to be shown off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 That is freakin awesome :Thumbs-up: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 3, 2008 Author Share Posted February 3, 2008 Thanks folks for all the compliments. I was checking out some more photos and saw this one. I keep thinking that I will run out of things to post, but I keep finding more. I have dozens and dozens and dozens of file folders filled with fossil photos and cant keep track of them all. Good thing I lost hundreds of fossil photos a few years ago and had to start over so that all I have are these few hundred! HA!! Anyways, I cant remember when I found this beauty, but it had to be 8 to 10 years ago? This is known as Neptunia lyrata and is my favorite gastropod. Plus they are sooooooooooooooooo much easier to prep than those (sulcosipho's) with the super sharp shoulders. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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