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What is an "inlaid" fossil?


Bone guy

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Howdy. I always see green river stingrays that are "inlaid." I THINK inlaid means they took the stingray and placed it into a better looking matrix, is this correct? 

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It can mean a few different things but, yes, in general it means that fossils have been cut out and then glued onto slabs other than the one they were found in. Often it's done to create the (in)famous "aquariums in stone" with numerous different fish, etc. all on a single slab: Most of those are "inlaid." It may ALSO mean that spare parts have been taken from other specimens and "inlaid" on an imperfect specimen to create a complete piece or "whole" individual. For beauty, they can be exceptional. For paleontological value, a little less. So it depends what you're looking for.

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Wendell Ricketts
Fossil News: The Journal of Avocational Paleontology
http://fossilnews.org
https://twitter.com/Fossil_News

The "InvertebrateMe" blog
http://invertebrateme.wordpress.com

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Some stingrays and other fish will have another layer of rock glued on top of them to look like it was prepped out further, I personally prefer otherwise but whatever floats their boats. Sometimes trilobites or shark teeth will be inlaid into hash’s to look like they are associated.

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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17 hours ago, WhodamanHD said:

Some stingrays and other fish will have another layer of rock glued on top of them to look like it was prepped out further, I personally prefer otherwise but whatever floats their boats. Sometimes trilobites or shark teeth will be inlaid into hash’s to look like they are associated.

Well, yes and no. Specimens from the so-called "split fish" layers of Green R. Fm./Fossil Lake Mbr. are often prepped this way by professionals for good reason. When the split is directly on the fossil, part of the fossil remains attached to each slab, part and counterpart. Sometimes people like this effect because they have, in a sense, "two for one," but a professional preparator will almost always glue the halves back together and prep from one side or the other to insure that the entire specimen can be preserved. That's very common for museum specimens, probably less so for commercial sales. In the latter cases, sellers can use both halves and paint in or lay in missing parts. If that doesn't bother the buyer, then all is well. If it matters to you, though, always ask how much is original, how much is "spare parts," how much is painted or restored, etc.

_________________________________
Wendell Ricketts
Fossil News: The Journal of Avocational Paleontology
http://fossilnews.org
https://twitter.com/Fossil_News

The "InvertebrateMe" blog
http://invertebrateme.wordpress.com

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