brachiomyback Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 An old trip from last February… Work brought me back to the DC / Baltimore area again. This week had some awesome weather which made me wonder if I could squeeze in my first trip to the Potomac or a reprise of the Chesapeake Beach. Unfortunately, I knew my schedule was tight which wouldn’t allow me to hunt for fossils. My job was inspecting a senior living apartment complex. I was in the mechanical equipment room (fire riser / boilers / water heaters…etc) and while I inspecting this area, my eyes came across something in a bin on a shelf. The quick glance instantly registered something in my brain and I brought my eyes back to the bin for a further investigation. THERE IT WAS….. I asked the maintenance personnel “Bob” if he collected teeth also. He stated “What?”. I said, “Teeth….fossil shark teeth” (as I pointed to a large jar containing approximately 1,500 teeth). “Oh that…”, Bob said. “I found that about 3 years ago during an apartment ‘turn over’ in which the tenant ended up leaving a bunch of stuff behind, included that”. He further stated, “It was just too unique and I couldn’t bear to throw it in the dumpster with all the other junk”. He then asked if I collected them and I proceeded to tell him about my last Green Mill Run Trip in Greenville, NC in addition to going with my brother at the Chesapeake Beach last year….etc. Bob smiled and said, “Looks like they finally found a good home”. I almost need a change of pants and had to make him repeat himself to make sure I understood him correctly. With hands shaking, I grabbed the dusty jar out of the bin for a closer look. That’s when my hands really shook and almost dropped the large glass jar. For behind the jar, covered in dust, was something I did not expect….. a 3.5” meg. “Oh yeah”, Bob said, “There was a big one that came with that jar too”. I pick the monster tooth up, looked at him and said, ”Carcharocles megalodon”, as drool streamed down my shirt. I make it back to my brother’s house that evening and told him the story which he didn’t believe till I pulled out the MEG and the jar of teeth. That night I was as excited as my 5-year old niece going through the huge pile of teeth on the dining room table. I ended up giving her about 500 or so “beaters” so she could hide them this summer in the sandbox and find them along with my 2-year old niece. I went through them again at home and pulled out about 150+ prime ones. The remaining ones went into the “Christmas” teeth bin for my other nieces and nephews. Looked like Christmas came early for all of us…… Bob didn’t know where they came from, but all I know is that most of them have an awesome patina to them. They all had a cool worn / polished look to them. I was later informed from another fossil collector they may be from Venice Beach, Florida. Who says you can’t work and hunt teeth at the same time? - Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmorefossil Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 yea i remember this i got a good laugh, i can just picture you when you saw the tooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommabetts Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 That's a great story. I love the first picture with all of the teeth. Might make a good desktop background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 ok, now look, brad. man, i can't think of anything to say. wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 I can't help but wonder about the back-story; how many winters at Venice Beach went into that jar, and did the grandkids help find them...? "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Great story! Kind of reminds me of something that happened to a friend of mine while I was there. We stopped to knock on a door and ask a land owner if we could look for arrowheads on his property. He invited us in and placed a HUGE beautiful agatized coral arrowhead of some sort into my friend's hand. The nicest I have ever seen. "Yeah, I found that out back a few years ago...............I can tell you like it..... It's yours!". We both got permission to hunt there and found a lot of nice stuff...nothing as nice as what the land owner gave my friend, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikaner Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 An old trip from last February…Work brought me back to the DC / Baltimore area again. This week had some awesome weather which made me wonder if I could squeeze in my first trip to the Potomac or a reprise of the Chesapeake Beach. Unfortunately, I knew my schedule was tight which wouldn’t allow me to hunt for fossils. My job was inspecting a senior living apartment complex. I was in the mechanical equipment room (fire riser / boilers / water heaters…etc) and while I inspecting this area, my eyes came across something in a bin on a shelf. The quick glance instantly registered something in my brain and I brought my eyes back to the bin for a further investigation. THERE IT WAS….. I asked the maintenance personnel “Bob” if he collected teeth also. He stated “What?”. I said, “Teeth….fossil shark teeth” (as I pointed to a large jar containing approximately 1,500 teeth). “Oh that…”, Bob said. “I found that about 3 years ago during an apartment ‘turn over’ in which the tenant ended up leaving a bunch of stuff behind, included that”. He further stated, “It was just too unique and I couldn’t bear to throw it in the dumpster with all the other junk”. He then asked if I collected them and I proceeded to tell him about my last Green Mill Run Trip in Greenville, NC in addition to going with my brother at the Chesapeake Beach last year….etc. Bob smiled and said, “Looks like they finally found a good home”. I almost need a change of pants and had to make him repeat himself to make sure I understood him correctly. With hands shaking, I grabbed the dusty jar out of the bin for a closer look. That’s when my hands really shook and almost dropped the large glass jar. For behind the jar, covered in dust, was something I did not expect….. a 3.5” meg. “Oh yeah”, Bob said, “There was a big one that came with that jar too”. I pick the monster tooth up, looked at him and said, ”Carcharocles megalodon”, as drool streamed down my shirt. I make it back to my brother’s house that evening and told him the story which he didn’t believe till I pulled out the MEG and the jar of teeth. That night I was as excited as my 5-year old niece going through the huge pile of teeth on the dining room table. I ended up giving her about 500 or so “beaters” so she could hide them this summer in the sandbox and find them along with my 2-year old niece. I went through them again at home and pulled out about 150+ prime ones. The remaining ones went into the “Christmas” teeth bin for my other nieces and nephews. Looked like Christmas came early for all of us…… Bob didn’t know where they came from, but all I know is that most of them have an awesome patina to them. They all had a cool worn / polished look to them. I was later informed from another fossil collector they may be from Venice Beach, Florida. Who says you can’t work and hunt teeth at the same time? - Brad Hi Brad, lucky you, thats a very nice story everybody collecting shark teeth can relate to. I think I saw some small megs in the pic's, how many where in the Jar? Werner Better a bad Day at the Beach than a good Day at the Office! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racevw112 Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Cool story and pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brachiomyback Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 Hi Brad,lucky you, thats a very nice story everybody collecting shark teeth can relate to. I think I saw some small megs in the pic's, how many where in the Jar? Werner There were a handful in there.... with the best looking one I think below. Seeing this tooth always makes me image what that "little" meg would have looked like swimming in the ocean back "then". Wouldn't it be awesome to go back in time and have one that size in your own personal aquarium tank. Of course your would have to keep "upgrading" to bigger ones.... -Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I visualize a large aquarium, with a sign on it that says "Please don't feed the Megalodon". "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seldom Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I have come back and read this story like 5 times great story. Galveston Island 32 miles long 2 miles wide 134 bars 23 liquor stores any questions? Evolution is Chimp Change. Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain! "I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen." Ernest Hemingway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossil26 Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 That is one HUGE pile of teeth!! Great Story!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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