Auction Prep

[Ptychodus04]

I started the preparation that @snolly50 won on my auction. Here's a pic of the fish as I received it.

 

[Ptychodus04]

Here's a pic after 2 hours with the Aro. There was some definite postmortem shenanigans going on here! Bones are crushed, broken, distorted, etc. but that makes it fun! More pics to come as progress is made.

 

 

 

[snolly50]

The first photo shows where snolly "gave up" twenty years ago. While many fossils have been completed with simple tools (electrostylus, carbide needles, dental picks, art gum); those implements did not seem to be bring out the best in this critter. snolly put it aside, anticipating a move to more sophisticated powered equipment - of course, like many "plans" we make, it never happened.

 

Then, this Forum, a fortuitous auction, a lucky win.

 

Kris' tools, experience and skilled hand can now make this Noto a worthy display piece!*

 

*Please note that snolly had already done the hard part by skillfully uncovering that elusive dorsal fin! LOL

 

Thanks for the update Kris. I hope it turns out more of a fun project than a pain...

...and thanks again for providing this novel auction prize to help the Forum.  

[FossilDudeCO]

Looking good Kris!

 

[Fossildude19]

 

 

Great job so far, Kris! 

[Ptychodus04]

If Snolly hadn't taken care of the dorsal fin, I don't know what I'd do!

 

Thanks all.

[RJB]

Some funny guys here.  Im with Snolly, I would have givin up on this 20 years ago two.  Better that Kris handles this than I.  That's one messy lookin fishy.  Gunna be interesting to see the end result.  Good luck Kris.

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

Total prep time now is 3 hours. Caudal fin is showing up and verts are mostly uncovered. This is one bony fish! They are everywhere and going in every direction.

 

Edited February 1, 2017 by Ptychodus04
Fat fingers

[ynot]

Looking good!

Tony

[snolly50]

That's one good lookin' fish! Even if her spine and dozens of ribs look as if she was in a head-on train wreck! Keep up the fine work Kris! Are any details yet visible on some of those lovely, uniquely shaped scales? 

[RJB]

Those tail fin bones are starting out perty good.  My fingers are crossed for a nice tail. 

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

3 hours ago, snolly50 said:

That's one good lookin' fish! Even if her spine and dozens of ribs look as if she was in a head-on train wreck! Keep up the fine work Kris! Are any details yet visible on some of those lovely, uniquely shaped scales? 

No scale details yet but there seems to be a clean separation between fossil and matrix so I'm hopeful. It's not very sticky but is very hard compared to other Green River Formation material I have worked with. My Aro is screaming as it eats through this stuff. It also produces an obvious petroleum smell.

 

 

28 minutes ago, RJB said:

Those tail fin bones are starting out perty good.  My fingers are crossed for a nice tail. 

 

RB

 

My eyes are crossed as well as my fingers. Preservation of the specimen improves as you move posterior so I'm anticipating a quality caudal fin.

 

This fish has a face that would make a freight train back up and take a dirt road.

[snolly50]

42 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

No scale details yet but there seems to be a clean separation between fossil and matrix so I'm hopeful. It's not very sticky but is very hard compared to other Green River Formation material I have worked with. My Aro is screaming as it eats through this stuff. It also produces an obvious petroleum smell.

 

Relative hardness and smells like the underside of a '60s Buick - indicators of origin in the famed "18 inch layer."

 

Oh, and Kris, ease up on the comments about her face; she's sensitive.

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, snolly50 said:

Relative hardness and smells like the underside of a '60s Buick - indicators of origin in the famed "18 inch layer."

 

Oh, and Kris, ease up on the comments about her face; she's sensitive.

 

You know, after being dead for millions of years you would think one wouldn't be so sensitive. Messed up face but what a body... Did I just cross the censor line for I/I (inappropriate inuendo)?

 

 

I guess she wouldn't find humor in these:

 

"You have a face only a mother could love." OR "You have a face made for radio."

 

[Yvie]

We use the phrase a face like a slapped a**e here

 

Yvie

[Ptychodus04]

3 minutes ago, Yvie said:

We use the phrase a face like a slapped a**e here

 

Yvie

 

It took me a minute to figure this one out... There's a mental picture! 

 

I think we may be hurting the fish's feelings again. I better be nice or the prep will go south on me quickly!

[ynot]

She gets no respect at all. Give her a break, after all she is 50 + million years old!

Tony

 

PS Prep seems to be coming along very nicely.

 

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, ynot said:

She gets no respect at all. Give her a break, after all she is 50 + million years old!

Tony

 

PS Prep seems to be coming along very nicely.

 

She does look good for her age. I hope I look this good after that long.

 

Prep is going very smoothly thus far... actively knocking on every piece of wood near me. Slow and steady wins the race.

[RJB]

This poor fish sure is getting 'The Business'.   A couple of summers ago I did a fish for a customer that had purty much the same problems.   Bones all over the place but the back end came out ok.  I had to 'shape' the head and the belly cause I could see that more bones just kept on a goin.   Not to mention that the rock was in 2 pieces.   Not sure if this will help Kris, but you can see that you not alone in this kind of prep 'boat'.   Good luck

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

@RJB that fish is way worse off than @snolly50's fish. Overall, his fish was nice enough to keep most of its bones inside of its skin!

[snolly50]

Notogoneus Fun Facts

The Lost World of Fossil Lake, Snapshots from Deep Time, Lance Grande, The University of Chicago Press, 2013 

 

Grande's informative and wonderfully illustrated text explores the flora and fauna of the Fossil Butte Member (FBM) of the Green River Formation. I believe it to be a "must have" for folks interested in Green River fossils. I was fortunate to purchase a deaccessioned copy from a library collection for very few $. Check online with that big book seller.

 

The lovely lady being prepped by Kris is the extinct Notogoneus osculus. This is the only member of the family, Gonorynchidae represented in the FBM. Living members of this family are extant in the tropical marine regions of the Indo-Pacific. These are salt water dwellers unlike the fossil, fresh water Notogoneus being prepped. The modern fish are commonly known variously as "beaked sandfish, beaked salmon, mouse fish, and sand fish or eel." These animals are nocturnal and burrow into the sand during daylight hours. They feed on bottom-dwelling invertebrates. The fossil Notogoneus also displays a small, toothless, ventrally located mouth. This suggests similar dining habits.

 

The origin of the current specimen is the Warfield Quarry which falls within the FBM. The creature was quarried from the "18-inch layer;" which accounts for the previously noted relative hardness of the matrix and the petroleum smell emitted by the rock pulverized during prep. Grande reports that Notogoneus is less common than other types of fishes in the FBM. However, it is "not rare in the mid-lake 18-inch layer deposits, where it makes up between 0.3 and 2 percent of the fish fauna..."

 

 

 

[Ptychodus04]

Here's the fishy with 2 more hours prep for a total of 5 hours. The tail didn't turn out as complete as I had hoped but it's mostly there.

 

The worst part part will be removing the glue from the 20+ year old tape that was holding the slab down!

[Ludwigia]

Nicely done, Kris!!

[snolly50]

1 hour ago, Ptychodus04 said:

The worst part part will be removing the glue from the 20+ year old tape that was holding the slab down!

 

Uh oh, stored in a garage so the tape's baked on with 20 years of SC heat and humidity!

 

Is it just the angle of the photo or are you in a little too tight on the upper lobe and rear margin of the caudal? - LOL, armchair preparator lookin' over your shoulder.

 

Can't wait to see your work in the next phase, prettying her up. I'm hoping there is enough scale and carbon stain in the head area where some shape of the normal head will be retained even with the misplaced, disturbed skull elements.

 

It's looking great. Thanks for helping me and for your generosity to the Forum. 

 

[Ptychodus04]

8 minutes ago, snolly50 said:

 

Uh oh, stored in a garage so the tape's baked on with 20 years of SC heat and humidity!

 

Is it just the angle of the photo or are you in a little too tight on the upper lobe and rear margin of the caudal? - LOL, armchair preparator lookin' over your shoulder.

 

Can't wait to see your work in the next phase, prettying her up. I'm hoping there is enough scale and carbon stain in the head area where some shape of the normal head will be retained even with the misplaced, disturbed skull elements.

 

It's looking great. Thanks for helping me and for your generosity to the Forum. 

 

 

I think there's a bit more to uncover on the upper lobe of the caudal. It started to get a bit intermittent and distorted and I was starting to get tired so I stopped there. It should widen a bit and continue for another 1/2" or so based on the drawings I'm referencing. More to come. It's a fun project.