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Would like for you to ID these


dads2vette

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Sorry about this being my 2nd post(introduction was the first) but I really have no idea what I'm doing. I picked up a box lot of mineral and fossil specimens recently. Primarily for the goniatite fossil that was included. In that lot, I found a few pieces labeled "dinosaur bones" and one piece that looked to be a tooth, only in shape, and a mystery piece. I'm hoping that you can id these for me. These are keeper pieces for me just because they are very cool. The first owner was kind enough to glaze the pieces with a high gloss protectant. I would also love to remove that.

Thanks Dave

fossils 1 resized.jpg

fossils 2.jpg

fossils 3.jpg

rsz_1imgp4138.jpg

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I'm having a hard time coming up with anything other than "Goniatites" for the Moroccan piece.

That is, ... aside from one website mistakenly calling them "Orthoceras" . :rolleyes: 

Not sure about your other items - wait for more eyes to get on these. 

Regards,

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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It's hard to say for certain how to go about removing the glossy protectant without knowing what it is.  If you are lucky it could be something like paraloid B72, which is soluble in acetone.  You could try dipping one of the less important (to you) specimens in acetone, or maybe just treat an inconspicuous area, and see if the material dissolves.  Be careful as other materials may react badly, such as turning cloudy.

 

Don

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You might have an easier time identifying the cephalopod if you compare it to nautiloids instead of goniatites. If the flanks are worn down past the sutures into the septa they can lose some of the folding that helps identify what they are but this doesn't really look like any ammonoid.

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Once the specimen has been ground down and polished generally all bets are off for a confident ID.  The suture line is diagnostic only when it shows where the septa intercept the exterior shell.  When the fossil is ground down the septa become simpler and they cannot be compared to distinguish between species.

 

Don

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Thanks Don but, I was more concerned with the ones that were labeled "dinosaur bones" by the previous owner. Those would be the last three in the series of pictures. I know this isn't easy to do with those pictures...kind of like calling a mechanic and asking whats wrong with my car when it makes "this" noise.

 

I live near Ash Fork, AZ but frequent Phoenix twice a month. Does anyone know where I might take these to get an identification?

 

Thanks, Dave 

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The items in the second and third pictures look like petrified wood.

Need more angles and better focus to say anything about the last one.

 

Tony

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

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54 minutes ago, FossilDAWG said:

Once the specimen has been ground down and polished generally all bets are off for a confident ID.  The suture line is diagnostic only when it shows where the septa intercept the exterior shell.  When the fossil is ground down the septa become simpler and they cannot be compared to distinguish between species.

 

Don

Don, thanks for the better explanation of the point I was trying to make. My suggestion of nautiloid was also based on the number of lobes and saddles on the flank. It brings up a question I've had you might know the answer to. As the edge of the septum is exposed closer to the center can it have fewer lobes and saddles or is it just a matter of less intricacy in the folding? I only know about a few goniatites from the Pennsylvanian of Texas and there may be some with fewer lobes than what I'm used to but the coiled nautiloids from the cretaceous here only have a single one of each before the ventrolateral margin like this fossil.

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Second Tony's wood idea. This type of preservation can be quite difficult (technical) to identify for certain though.

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Even lobes and saddles will disappear as you remove more and more material from the surface.  The extreme of this can be seen in ammonites that have been cut in two: regardless of how complex the suture line is, all you see in ammonites that have been cut right down the middle is a smooth curve to the septa that looks just like a nautiloid.

 

Don

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