Time to move my collection

[Doctor Mud]

Time to pack up my collection. As finally I will have everything in one house, in one city.

 

Ive been living in between two cities and only get to see it every few months. My wife has been mostly in one city and I have been in the other as the lab I work in is  there. Now we are "consolidating" and we will be together with all our stuff. No more "where's the such and such" "oh in the other house"

 

its been nice as I said as I haven't seen my collection for a while and got to handle each piece as I wrapped it up.

Some brought back vivid memories of the day I found the fossil. Some people have photo albums, for me the fossils are like touch stones that ignite the memory of the trip. I remember the end of the trip in the fading light the tooth on the cliff top or the days spent while I was a teenager in the local marl quarry hunting for teeth.

 

nervous times trying to decide whether to drive it down myself or trust the shipping company with it. I tell you it's packed well!

 

 

 

 

[Ludwigia]

Enjoy the consoldation! I've moved house several times and I know that flood of memories feeling of having something in your hands again, especially the ones in the drawers, which you'd almost forgotton that you had. It was quite an effort, but it was always worth it, since the displays were more thought out and improved each time around.

[Troodon]

Two stories

My buddy moved his collection from Buffalo to Florida. Would not trust shippers in their handling. Packed everything himself and loaded it all including furniture on a POD.  He did the unloading. Bones were fragile.  Everything was happy ever after.  

 

Next , I moved my shark tooth and Dinosaur collection from Delaware to Arizona.  I did not trust shippers.  Packed everything myself, rented a U-Haul trailer and made several trips.  Not one item broken.  

 

Bottom line don't trust anyone with your fossils they are clueless around how to properly handle them.  You however must be proficient in packaging.  Good luck

[tmaier]

Years ago, my uncle showed me the "drop-kick test". Basically, if you can drop the package and kick it against the wall and the items survive, then it might be safe for shipping.

The drop-kick is a classic method of loading trucks.

[digit]

5 hours ago, Doctor Mud said:

Some brought back vivid memories of the day I found the fossil. Some people have photo albums, for me the fossils are like touch stones that ignite the memory of the trip.

 

Exactly! My collection is not extensive--I keep only a few of the finds that I bring back from my collecting trips. The other fossils end up as gifts to friends and family (or as part of auctions to benefit the forum ). Between taking lots of photos while collecting and having a couple of memorable pieces from each trip, I can replay the moment of many of my finds in my mind. I really enjoy being out in the field on the hunt for something I've never collected before (like Lovenia woodsi that I hope to collect in a couple of weeks in Beaumaris while on our trip to see some sights in Australia). For me, it is the experience of the collecting trip that is the goal--the fossils themselves merely serve as reminders. Others have different goals in building their collection. A fascination with some type of fossil (trilobites, meg teeth, ice age mammals, etc.) might cause a collector to hunt, buy or trade to obtain as complete a collection as possible. I get that, but my collection will never be extensive or "complete" enough to merit donation to a museum after I've shuffled off this mortal coil. The pieces in my collection are special only in that they are wrapped up in the memories of their collection and that's just fine with me.

 

Glad to hear others share this same experience of picking up a fossil from a collection and remembering exactly how and where they came to hold it in their hands for the very first time.

 

Good luck with the move--lots of bubble-wrap and padding.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[RJB]

Hey Doctor Mud.  I would love to see some pics of your collection one day. 

 

RB

[Doctor Mud]

On ‎15‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 8:42 PM, Ludwigia said:

Enjoy the consoldation! I've moved house several times and I know that flood of memories feeling of having something in your hands again, especially the ones in the drawers, which you'd almost forgotton that you had. It was quite an effort, but it was always worth it, since the displays were more thought out and improved each time around.

Thanks Ludwigia.

 

It took me a whole day to pack everything up. My collection isn't huge as I've always been mindful that I would need to move again. I have tried to keep it down to pieces I really want. It helps me think about my collection and give it some direction rather than just collecting everything.

I decided in the past to cull everything else and just focus on shark teeth. That was until I discovered crab prepping!

 

 

[Doctor Mud]

On ‎15‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 10:20 PM, Troodon said:

Two stories

My buddy moved his collection from Buffalo to Florida. Would not trust shippers in their handling. Packed everything himself and loaded it all including furniture on a POD.  He did the unloading. Bones were fragile.  Everything was happy ever after.  

 

Next , I moved my shark tooth and Dinosaur collection from Delaware to Arizona.  I did not trust shippers.  Packed everything myself, rented a U-Haul trailer and made several trips.  Not one item broken.  

 

Bottom line don't trust anyone with your fossils they are clueless around how to properly handle them.  You however must be proficient in packaging.  Good luck

I think you are right Troodon. I would hate for anything to happen to my fossils. They will be going with me in a car from Brisbane to Sydney. Its not just the monetary value, its the memories and I suppose scientific value of many of the specimens. Many have survived a trip in the mail to my house, but why take any risks?

[Doctor Mud]

On ‎15‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 11:02 PM, tmaier said:

Years ago, my uncle showed me the "drop-kick test". Basically, if you can drop the package and kick it against the wall and the items survive, then it might be safe for shipping.

The drop-kick is a classic method of loading trucks.
 

Classic - "might be" safe. I've received packages before that I swear have been drop kicked. I remember a courier driver being filmed on someone's phone playing soccer with a package.

[Doctor Mud]

On ‎16‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 0:58 AM, digit said:

 

Exactly! My collection is not extensive--I keep only a few of the finds that I bring back from my collecting trips. The other fossils end up as gifts to friends and family (or as part of auctions to benefit the forum ). Between taking lots of photos while collecting and having a couple of memorable pieces from each trip, I can replay the moment of many of my finds in my mind. I really enjoy being out in the field on the hunt for something I've never collected before (like Lovenia woodsi that I hope to collect in a couple of weeks in Beaumaris while on our trip to see some sights in Australia). For me, it is the experience of the collecting trip that is the goal--the fossils themselves merely serve as reminders. Others have different goals in building their collection. A fascination with some type of fossil (trilobites, meg teeth, ice age mammals, etc.) might cause a collector to hunt, buy or trade to obtain as complete a collection as possible. I get that, but my collection will never be extensive or "complete" enough to merit donation to a museum after I've shuffled off this mortal coil. The pieces in my collection are special only in that they are wrapped up in the memories of their collection and that's just fine with me.

 

Glad to hear others share this same experience of picking up a fossil from a collection and remembering exactly how and where they came to hold it in their hands for the very first time.

 

Good luck with the move--lots of bubble-wrap and padding.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

I hear you Ken.

 

Hunting for fossils is a great excuse to get into the outdoors and maybe go to places you wouldn't think of going. Sometimes it might be a quarry - unless you worked in a quarry I can't imagine many people wanting to hang out in a quarry just for kicks. Other times it might be a rugged coastline or the mountains. There sure are some beautiful photos on here that make me yearn to go hunting.

I love the sense of adventure that is involved sometimes and that makes the fossil all the more special, not just the millions of years it took to arrive into your hand, but the day you found it.

 

Here's to many more fossil hunting memories Ken.

 

I sure went through plenty of bubble wrap!

All packed up now and ready for the move.

[Doctor Mud]

On ‎16‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 1:44 AM, RJB said:

Hey Doctor Mud.  I would love to see some pics of your collection one day. 

 

RB

Funny you said that - I was thinking the same about your crab collection. Given that you are a crab connoisseur and have been prepping for yonks you must have some beauties.

My collection isn't huge. I re-started 3 years ago. I was travelling too much to keep a collection. It was actually a trip to Glen Affric - the home of the mighty Tumido crab that started it all off again.  

[aeon.rocks]

Quote

That was until I discovered crab prepping!

 

Might wanna try trilo-preping when you run out of crabs, just as fun if not even more.

 

Good luck moving!