The best of my Ammonite collection

[Bobby Rico]

21. Psiloceras Planorbis 

Watchet, Somerset, uk

 

[Bobby Rico]

22. I was giiven this ammonite about 15year by a very sweet old lady who lived next door to me. So I don’t have any info about it but there does seem to be an interesting red mineral on it. I have kept it for sentimentality .

If anyone wants to have a guess at an ID that will be great.

 

[Bobby Rico]

[Tidgy's Dad]

52 minutes ago, Bobby Rico said:

21. Psiloceras Planorbis 

Watchet, Somerset, uk

 

That is a first rate specimen of Planorbis! 

Love it! 

[Ludwigia]

I think I may have said it before here, but I'll say it again. You certainly do have a nice collection!

[Bobby Rico]

Thank you very much @Tidgy's Dad and @Ludwigia . 

 

cheers Bobby 

[ynot]

I agree that You have some nice pieces!

Thanks for showing them here.

[Bobby Rico]

Thank you @ynot it has been my pleasure to show my collection to TFF.

cheers Bobby 

[Bobby Rico]

Wow @Ludwigia just been to  your gallery pages absolutley amazing and informative  collection. 

 

cheers bobby

[Ludwigia]

2 minutes ago, Bobby Rico said:

Wow @Ludwigia just been to  your gallery pages absolutley amazing and informative  collection. 

 

cheers bobby

[KimTexan]

I don’t have a gallery on here. I just joined within the last 2 months.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While I love the fossils I’ve found I’m not sure they are gallery worthy. I’ve been given a few little ammonites, but most all that I have are ones that I’ve found in Texas. Where I lived they are all very worn down, white to cream colored and rather dull in comparison to most ammonites I’ve seen.

Here is one I found 3 weeks ago. Very worn  down and dull.

Then a pic of a few I put out on my fireplace. The one in the middle had a large cluster of crystal on it where the hole is and all the sutures are crystalline calcite I think.

I have recently moved and haven’t gotten everything unpacked and organized yet. I’ve got an 18 inch one, but it’s only 75% complete.

As you can see they’re rather unimpressive compared to many of the UK ammonites. The preservation in the area isn’t the best. 

I plan to go hunting in a new location Friday. I’ll see what I may find. Maybe they will have better preservation.

My second love is echinoids. Regular urchins. 

[Ludwigia]

1 hour ago, KimTexan said:

 

 

1 hour ago, KimTexan said:

 

As you can see they’re rather unimpressive compared to many of the UK ammonites.

 

 

Their preservation is quite similar to the northern German cretaceous ammonites and I know the collectors up there are more than happy to have them in their collection. You can only take what's offered, right? Have you thought about prepping them?

[KimTexan]

I have thought about it and would love to do so, but I have not the slightest idea as to how to do so. I’m pretty good with working with my hands, but I usually need to see something done at least once before I am willing to undertake suc an endeavor. These are my babies and I don’t want to do damage to them. 

Also, it helps to have a vision of what it may look like when you’re done and I’m not sure what these can look like when prepped. I have not see one of these prepped around here to see a before and after example.

 

Do you know of any videos for prepping ammonites?

Do you prep your own? I was looking at some of your collection last night. They’re spectacular specimens, the whole lot of them! The preservation is awesome. I think I just looked at the Jurassic gallery though.

 

The one on the far right has matrix covering the center of the whorl. I worked to remove some of that, but the matrix closely resembles the fossil. So I stopped short of doing much with it.

[PFOOLEY]

13 hours ago, KimTexan said:

...While I love the fossils I’ve found I’m not sure they are gallery worthy...

They are ...and I encourage you to create one.

 

[JohnBrewer]

5 hours ago, KimTexan said:

Do you know of any videos for prepping ammonites?

There’s this guy https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC28l5ieRnm6rZKR7PbBoGEQ who’s entertaining. Unfortunately he hasn’t uploaded anything for a while. It does involve using air compressor equipment and prep pens are expensive. There are other methods of prep which are cheap and good to start out with such as a pin vice (vise for you guys across the pond  ) and exacto (sp) knives. I started with an engraving tool. Nice and cheap but you need to rest regularly because of vibrations to your hand. No where near ideal but they’re cheap and it’s a starting point.  

 

If you’ve got something you want help with just put a post up in the prep part of the forum. Experiment with low quality bits of ammonites or maybe a type you have a couple of duplicates.

[taj]

On 11/21/2017 at 4:02 PM, Bobby Rico said:

22. I was giiven this ammonite about 15year by a very sweet old lady who lived next door to me. So I don’t have any info about it but there does seem to be an interesting red mineral on it. I have kept it for sentimentality .

If anyone wants to have a guess at an ID that will be great.

 

Bobby , that may be a long shot , but the preservation reminds me of the bajocian of Sengenthal in Germany . Maybe oxyceratites?

[Bobby Rico]

Thanks @taj I will look that up . I do have a couple of ammonites from that location . Also that  would make sense the lady who gave it to me did spend time living in Germany in the 70s. 

 

Thanks again Bobby 

[Bobby Rico]

23. Eleganticeras

Whitby Yorkshire coast uk.

Really tiny and the prep is overdone but still one of my favourites.

[Bobby Rico]

57 minutes ago, taj said:

Bobby , that may be a long shot , but the preservation reminds me of the bajocian of Sengenthal in Germany . Maybe oxyceratites?

Thank you @taj the matrix looks like a good match pink limestone and Oxycerites looks good for an ID too. I will pencil this in as a good possibility. 

 

Cheers bobby

[KimTexan]

7 hours ago, JohnBrewer said:

There’s this guy https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC28l5ieRnm6rZKR7PbBoGEQ who’s entertaining. Unfortunately he hasn’t uploaded anything for a while. It does involve using air compressor equipment and prep pens are expensive. There are other methods of prep which are cheap and good to start out with such as a pin vice (vise for you guys across the pond  ) and exacto (sp) knives. I started with an engraving tool. Nice and cheap but you need to rest regularly because of vibrations to your hand. No where near ideal but they’re cheap and it’s a starting point.  

Thank you very much for the ideas and the video link.

I have a Dremmel with engraving and abrasion bits and many other attachments. I also have some dentil tools for the finer manual detail. I have played a little with prepping my echinoids and other stuff. With echinoids it’s very easy to see the vision of what it should look like. With most of my ammonites the exterior of the shell is gone so I don’t really have a vision of what look I’m going for. I guess I need to find examples of ones like mine to see what they could be.

[Nimravis]

@Bobby Rico ans @KimTexan , though I am not a collector of ammonites I really do love this one, I purchased it years ago from a dealer that sold Jurassic Solnhofen fossils- here is a positive and negative plate of a Phylloceras ammonite.

 

[KimTexan]

Nice. I always have the urge to cut those blocks down, but then I’m too afraid it will split the fossil and ruin it. 

 

Like this one I found maybe 4 weeks ago. 

It is kind of ugly, but something about it just appeals to me and I think it is cool looking. I have no idea what kind it is. I found it in SE Johnson county Texas near Hamm Creek.

The white part of the whorl at about 3 o’clock is part calcite or crystal of some sort and bits of the whole thing sparkle. I’d like to cut down the bottom and left side of the rock to even it out a little, but I’m afraid I’ll ruin it.

I found this one the same day a few feet away from where I found the other one.

Then I drove a mile or so and found this in a different formation or at least different layer of the formation 

 

I hope to go ammonite hunting tomorrow in Arlington. Haven’t been hunting there before so I will see what I find.

 

[Bobby Rico]

15 hours ago, Nimravis said:

@Bobby Rico ans @KimTexan , though I am not a collector of ammonites I really do love this one, I purchased it years ago from a dealer that sold Jurassic Solnhofen fossils- here is a positive and negative plate of a Phylloceras ammonite.

 

They are really nice and the Solnhofen fossil beds are amazing for ammonites and starfish . I do prefer ammonites that are in a there matrix. Thanks for showing me @Nimravis

 

cheers Bobby

[Bobby Rico]

@KimTexan I like that ammonite your called ugly  . I would  have taken that home . Thanks for showing us . Happy thanksgiving and I hope you bring a nice ammonite home tomorrow.

 

cheers Bobby 

[JohnBrewer]

17 hours ago, KimTexan said:

I have a Dremmel with engraving and abrasion bits and many other attachments

That’s a rotary tool Kim, easy to slip with that! The type of engraver I meant was one like this 

 

 

where the point goes in and out and out rather than in a circular motion.  Having said that I use Dremel too as it smooths the matrix nicely after I’ve jackhammered with my pen.