Maintaining My Dinosaur Fossil Collection

[Carcharodontosaurus]

Since I started buying fossils online in 2013, my collection has slowly but surely shifted from being a generalistic fossil collection to mainly a dinosaur and reptile fossil collection. With my collection increasing, some things have come to my mind about where to go next with displaying and maintaining my collection, along with guidelines as to what standards I should have when purchasing fossils. I will list them below, and would like to hear your feedback.

 

1. I currently display the bulk of my collection in an open cabinet that collects dust. It seemed like a good idea at first but the dust it's slowly gathering is obviously an issue. I've seen members display their teeth in IKEA cabinets, which look much better and might not collect as much dust, but living in a country prone to earthquakes I must question whether this is a safe method of display. I don't want to buy an expensive cabinet that looks good only for an earthquake to hit and destroy it with the fossils inside. What would tooth collectors overseas do about this?

 

2. The most important information about a specimen is the location. Recently, I have strived to know as much as possible about where the fossils I purchased have been found (more on that later), and obviously this should be labelled. I wonder if a commercial label printer would be any good for this, as I don't have a working computer printer and printed digital text looks much better than my handwriting. Has anybody had experience with using label printers for their collections?

 

3. More recently, I have developed tighter standards for buying fossils than I've had before, even for last year. I will now only buy fossils either from the original finder or otherwise with precise locality information (not just the formation and state/country). When possible, I like to know the name of the quarry where it was found (if applicable), when it was found, and who found it. All of these are provided with a T. rex tooth tip I bought directly from the finder in South Dakota, as an example. Sometimes I will settle for a county and formation if the provenance is otherwise solid (Texas dinosaur material, for example). To be more of an ethical collector, I will also now avoid fossils from countries with bans on fossil trade and export, such as Niger and especially Mongolia. This means I can no longer tick dinosaurs like Suchomimus and Tarbosaurus off my bucket list, but I can always buy similar remains legally.

 

4. Adding to the above, I would like to get rid of some purchases I made in the past that seem to me now like poor choices, cluttering up an otherwise good collection. Some of these I will sell (not via the forum as I only accept local pickups) but have had no success to so far, others will be given away as they don't have much value. Does anyone have any suggestions as how I could get rid of these "cluttering" pieces?

 

Just wanted to get all this off my chest. Thanks in advance to those who answer the questions I have.

[caldigger]

Schools and colleges come to mind if you don't have any museums that want them.

[FossilGuy1024]

Hello Carcharodontosaurus,

     My two cents worth:

1. Have you tried using riker mounts? They’re great for smaller specimens. I’ve also used shallow display cases like in the picture below where the teeth are also in a riker mount. This offers a fair amount of protection while keeping the dust off. I put this little display together for a public “fossil day” at the local botanical garden. The specimens on the leftt are things my kids and I found in Montana and the those on the right were purchased.

2. If you have access and are able to create labels in a word processor of some sort you may be able to find an office supply store to print them for you. If I understand what you mean by label printer I can’t say I’ve seen one that could print the kind of multi-line labels you’d want next to  your specimens. I’d be happy to send you a file with labels I’ve used before (in picture below) as a template to get you started.

4. If you have any local mineral and fossil shows you may be able to find a dealer to take your unwanted specimens (sell or trade). Remember though, dealers have to make some money so their offers will most likely be much less than you paid for them.  You may be able to find some interest through local rock clubs.

 

Hope this helps

 

 

[Nimravis]

Displaying and storing fossils is always a challenge. The majority of my fossils (Mazon Creek) are glued on to white pieces of cardboard (see below) and I write the fossil name, location it was found and the year collected. These fossils are then kept in drawers or displayed in old Timex watch type cases. The problem with keeping them in drawers is that you do not have the opportunity to enjoy them since they are out of sight. Other types of larger fossils are displayed on wooden shelves, anchored into the wall studs for support- the problem with this type of display is the dust issue, which can be a problem. Lastly I display some favorites in rolling glass / wooden locked cases with storage shelves on the bottom (see below). I use plexiglass and wooden pieces to display them at different heights in the cabinets, otherwise everything would be flat and on one level. Believe it or not, I purchased a few of the cabinets a number of years ago from Natural Wonders when they were going out of business- I paid $35.00 for each case and 25 cents for each wooden / plexiglass display unit. 

 

[ynot]

4 hours ago, Carcharodontosaurus said:

Does anyone have any suggestions as how I could get rid of these "cluttering" pieces?

You could always run an auction to benefit the Fossil Forum.

Tony

[FossilDudeCO]

1 hour ago, ynot said:

You could always run an auction to benefit the Fossil Forum.

Tony

 

5 hours ago, Carcharodontosaurus said:

 

4. Adding to the above, I would like to get rid of some purchases I made in the past that seem to me now like poor choices, cluttering up an otherwise good collection. Some of these I will sell (not via the forum as I only accept local pickups) " pieces?

 

 

Looks like he doesn't want to ship them Tony.

That would basically leave a fossil yard sale like a couple of people have mentioned lately. A donation to a local museum. Or sell/trade to other local dealers.

[Carcharodontosaurus]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think Riker mounts are a good idea too, but they don't seem to be for sale locally, so I'll have to buy them online, possibly in bulk. As for decluttering my collection, I plan to join my local rock and mineral club soon, so maybe I could sell them there. And FossilGuy1024, nice dinosaur display you got there.

[-Andy-]

7 hours ago, Carcharodontosaurus said:

Since I started buying fossils online in 2013, my collection has slowly but surely shifted from being a generalistic fossil collection to mainly a dinosaur and reptile fossil collection. With my collection increasing, some things have come to my mind about where to go next with displaying and maintaining my collection, along with guidelines as to what standards I should have when purchasing fossils. I will list them below, and would like to hear your feedback.

 

1. I currently display the bulk of my collection in an open cabinet that collects dust. It seemed like a good idea at first but the dust it's slowly gathering is obviously an issue. I've seen members display their teeth in IKEA cabinets, which look much better and might not collect as much dust, but living in a country prone to earthquakes I must question whether this is a safe method of display. I don't want to buy an expensive cabinet that looks good only for an earthquake to hit and destroy it with the fossils inside. What would tooth collectors overseas do about this?

 

2. The most important information about a specimen is the location. Recently, I have strived to know as much as possible about where the fossils I purchased have been found (more on that later), and obviously this should be labelled. I wonder if a commercial label printer would be any good for this, as I don't have a working computer printer and printed digital text looks much better than my handwriting. Has anybody had experience with using label printers for their collections?

 

3. More recently, I have developed tighter standards for buying fossils than I've had before, even for last year. I will now only buy fossils either from the original finder or otherwise with precise locality information (not just the formation and state/country). When possible, I like to know the name of the quarry where it was found (if applicable), when it was found, and who found it. All of these are provided with a T. rex tooth tip I bought directly from the finder in South Dakota, as an example. Sometimes I will settle for a county and formation if the provenance is otherwise solid (Texas dinosaur material, for example). To be more of an ethical collector, I will also now avoid fossils from countries with bans on fossil trade and export, such as Niger and especially Mongolia. This means I can no longer tick dinosaurs like Suchomimus and Tarbosaurus off my bucket list, but I can always buy similar remains legally.

 

4. Adding to the above, I would like to get rid of some purchases I made in the past that seem to me now like poor choices, cluttering up an otherwise good collection. Some of these I will sell (not via the forum as I only accept local pickups) but have had no success to so far, others will be given away as they don't have much value. Does anyone have any suggestions as how I could get rid of these "cluttering" pieces?

 

Just wanted to get all this off my chest. Thanks in advance to those who answer the questions I have.

 

1. I second what the others have said about rikers. They are relatively inexpensive, and display your teeth great for maximum enjoyment.

2. I use a regular printer and cut the labels out myself. I did ask a few printing shops but they didn't do label printing. I am considering printing my regular labels out, laminating it, then cutting it into strips though I don't know if the plastic would simply fall out.

3. Good on you. Perhaps you could consider high quality casts to tick them off your bucket list?

4. A garage sale or meet-up with fellow collectors might be your only way. I don't think you can easily recoup their original price unfortunately.

[ynot]

Instead of pins, I just add some extra padding (newspaper) to My riker mounts.

[DenBoy]

Hi, I am also interested in the replies this gets as to best display practices. but in regards to your final question "Does anyone have any suggestions as how I could get rid of these "cluttering" pieces?" . I think maybe donating to your local schools, you never know in 20 years time you may buy the centrepiece pride of your collection from a young palaeontologist who was inspired by a gift of fossils to their school as a child

 

I am also in the process of making a portfolio / catalogue style folder for all the fossils I've found and have been able to ID with photos and supporting references for my young collection I think this will be a big help remembering all the technical details as my collection expands.

[Bguild]

Here's a link to the American Museum of Natural History's guidelines for storing and preserving fossils. Very useful information for anyone with a fossil collection!

 

http://collections.paleo.amnh.org/5/storing

 

 

[Carcharodontosaurus]

13 hours ago, -Andy- said:

 

1. I second what the others have said about rikers. They are relatively inexpensive, and display your teeth great for maximum enjoyment.

2. I use a regular printer and cut the labels out myself. I did ask a few printing shops but they didn't do label printing. I am considering printing my regular labels out, laminating it, then cutting it into strips though I don't know if the plastic would simply fall out.

3. Good on you. Perhaps you could consider high quality casts to tick them off your bucket list?

4. A garage sale or meet-up with fellow collectors might be your only way. I don't think you can easily recoup their original price unfortunately.

2. Might have to invest in a printer, then. Maybe someone could invent a cheaper label printer for specimen labels, though.

 

3. I was thinking of buying a few casts. Much cheaper, and some good ones do exist on the market. Mind PMing me any good sites for casts and replicas?

 

4. I'll try the local rock and mineral club next year.

 

Thanks for the answers everybody.