My collection of Opalised Plesiosaur Verterbra

[mickk]

I used to be a member her many years ago when young Knackers McGee started the site showing off his wonderful finds, time marches on, now i have somethig to contribute of note.

 

I aquired a collection of Gem grade Opalised Plesiosaur bones, mainly half verterbrae, whatsit called, split vertically.

 

Included, was one unknown perfect split shown below.

 

If anyone is interested in such things, I can post more pics and links to videos for your amusement.

 

This image is of the best split, most likely broken in the field by the pick. The central inclusions are very shallow.

 

I could not believe my luck as the person who sold then to me did not recognise the bones in the parcel.

 

Sadly I did not buy all of it, so there is or are people out there with half a dozen matchng halves to what I have.

 

Some of the pieces have great detail of bone structure on the outside, some look to have internal passages preserved in great detail.

Veins or ateries not opalised within the Opal.

 

All very rare to find as ordinary fossilised bone, opalised is very very rare.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by mickk
added

[michele 1937]

it's wonderful

[ynot]

Nice acquisitions!

Would love to see more opalized fossils.

[Fossildude19]

Nice pieces.  

 

3 hours ago, mickk said:

I used to be a member here many years ago when young Knackers McGee started the site showing off his wonderful finds ...

 Knackers McGee???   

What was your previous user name? 

[RJB]

Colorful stuff for sure!!!

 

RB

[aplomado]

Wow!

[Bobby Rico]

Beautiful . Really special. 

[mickk]

12 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

Nice pieces.  

 

 Knackers McGee???   

What was your previous user name? 

I think it was Mickk

[mickk]

Here is the link to a video of the piece pictured above.

 

 

[mickk]

This is a video of a very pretty Opalised Euspira, a sea snail.

 

It is only a partial, but the color is very nice.

 

 

This is a pic of a very tiny Opalised Mussel shell. It has somehow survived the mining process, and the cement mixer, then spotted in the clean up.

I like it as it almost looks alive when wet the preservation and color are very good.

 

 

 

[mickk]

This is a nice piece of Plesiosaur bone that has good preservation and opalisation.

 

[mickk]

This is another partial that has good preservation of the concave top and bottom but the video sucks a bit as I was showing color not casing.

 

This is another fragment of Plesiosaur bone, who knows what part.

It may be part of the arms or what you call them of the verterbra be my guess.

 

 

[mickk]

Here are a few pics of Oplised worm tubes. Worm tubes is what we call them, I dont know any more than that.

These are just as rare as the Plesiosaur bones, but not a huge commercial value, just for the collector.

I am just amazed that they were spotted by the miner. They must ber very tough to survive this long.

I guess as thick as a match and about 2cm long.

I love the detail. If you cut them up, the inside is all color.

 

[Bobby Rico]

I really like your oplised fossil collection appsolutely beautiful. I have two oplised clams I got in a job lot of a friend last week.

thanks for showing them.

regards Bobby 

[mickk]

8 minutes ago, Bobby Rico said:

I really like your oplised fossil collection appsolutely beautiful. I have two oplised clams I got in a job lot of a friend last week.

thanks for showing them.

regards Bobby 

No worries, happy to share. I have more to show, we just getting warmed up.

I used to be in here many years ago and also in the UK fossil forum, but I didnt have anything to show, just some wood and shells.

Opalised Clams are rarer than most shells. There are freshwater ones and saltwater ones. Freshwater ones tend to be blacker in color and tend toward lightning ridge.

The lighter ones are from andamooka coober pedy way.

All Opalised shells are rare, a solid clam, no mud inside all Opal, is worth say $3000USD per carat but they tend to be small if they are perfect maybe 15 carats or so, top thumb joint size ish.

For some reason, shells, bones, any living animal opalised, contains the best color. No one can prove why, I think its traces of amino acids, maybe its just a nice calm environment we will never know.

 

I have seen an Opalised Lobster, crayfish yabby type thing, I wasnt allowed to take pics of it and it was almost a foot long,  all I can say is that it is one of those natural beautiful things that the Pharoes would have died over had they known.

 

[Bobby Rico]

Opalised Lobster OMG right. Yes I see a as beautiful as the scarab beetle. 

[mickk]

Here is a snap of some bone fragments from a Plesioaur, parts unknown, one in the group is shown above with the grain on the outside.

 

The miner who found all these pieces is now dead. he was known for his bones, he found an amazing layer of fossilised Opal critters, of gem quality, very clean, no sand inclusions.

 

It is easy to see how these pieces are mislabelled or go unrecognised to most that come across them.

 

 

[mickk]

11 minutes ago, Bobby Rico said:

Opalised Lobster OMG right. Yes I see a as beautiful as the scarab beetle. 

Ya know, I think I may have had one of those scarab beetle things in a fossil collection one time but mistook it for part of a crab, now looking at your pic.

It was the same collection that had a fossilised nut with remnants of gold leaf covering on it. The only reference to the nut was from the years BC that I could find.

It was a great pity that I only discovered the gold covering when I was cleaning it with a toothbrush.

I mean who would expect some old chestnut type thig to be covered in gold under the mud?

maybe it trapped gold? as the nut surface was covered in creases. Ahh gimme a time machine!

[Bobby Rico]

Hi yeah I know exactly what you mean the gold covering is not just a covering it is a mineral called iron pyrite and they do make very amazing fossils. This is my favourite pyrites fossil Gerastos ainrasifus trilobite L. Devonian Morocco