Scott S. Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Hello Everyone, Tragedy from an outing this past weekend and I'd much rather a TFF member who enjoys the educational aspect of fossils get a chance to benefit from my misfortune rather than a picker looking to collect and sell. It's been years since I've posted here but I've known and loved all the interactions I've had in the past and hope to give back a little good Karma here. I was traveling to the famous St. Leon IN road cut with a student of mine and I know I left behind a bag of amazing trilobites. For those who live in the area, you know where I'm talking about. I had a small 2x3 inch bag with at least 5 really nice Flexicalymene wrapped in bits of aluminum foil in it and a bunch of Zygospira (I'm a serious brachiopod fan). I'm fairly certain it either fell out of my bag, or I may have set it down and left it on the blue shale bed at the top of the Waynesville Formation (Blanchester Member) likely on the East side of the road cut. I've been finding I have some memory issues lately and I'm paying dearly for this one. I don't want to put too much detail as I tend to be rather protective of sites, even if they are fairly well known. I have basically given up hope of being able to get back down there soon (I'm from Milwaukee) but I would love for someone to find them and at least keep them and enjoy them. It's also possible that they may have fallen out of my truck while parked at the outcrop. If so, look on the curb on the East side of the road, just about one man-made cut tier below where the blue shale meets the road. (maybe about 100 yards North (downhill) of where this shale later meets the road. The trilobites are all wrapped in little bits of aluminum foil. Some are prone, others enrolled. Of course, I would be ecstatic if someone were kind enough to actually find them and send them to me, but I'd still prefer that at least someone finds them and keep them for themselves rather than have them survive 450 million years in the ground, just to get picked up, carefully wrapped and then run over on the curb and destroyed, or crushed on the outcrop. If someone can make it there sooner than later, I wish you luck and hope you recover them! If you do it is entirely up to you to choose to keep them, but I'd LOVE to see or hear that someone from TFF actually found them. I feel there could be a good chance since It was just last Sunday (March 17th) and people usually collect more during the weekends. If you can get there I hope you find them, love them, and above all learn from them! Kindest regards. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Pre-packaged bugs! Can't beat that. This will be an interesting thread to follow. I have come across bags of fossils, piles of fossils, tools, etc. that folks left behind but none of it was ever anything special. Wish I had time to drive up there and look myself. I'm long overdue for a trip home (Dayton, OH) and some quality time in the Cincinnatian strata. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Geocaching by mistake. Hope You can get them returned to You. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott S. Posted March 20, 2018 Author Share Posted March 20, 2018 The trip was definitely not a total loss. Over the two marathon days we visited 7 incredible localities (many of my favorites) in and around S.E. Indiana and the Louisville area. I'll add some pictures hopefully in the next day or so but here's a list of the highlights: My student found a BEAUTIFUL large prone Flexicalymene in the Grant Lake. Some pristine Vinlandostrophia (platystrophia) ponderosas, Hindia sponges, some exceptional Modiolopsis, AN INCREDIBLE Philhedra from the Clarksville Member, a Hiscobeccus capax that is articulated, and hollowed out without being geodized so you can perfectly see the internal articulation of the hinge. I also picked up a really nice Deceptrix bivalve which I believe is also with the trilobites. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwestbrook Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 So sorry that happened to you. I've had that happen to me as well. Hope someone finds them for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwestbrook Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 1 hour ago, erose said: Pre-packaged bugs! Can't beat that. This will be an interesting thread to follow. I have come across bags of fossils, piles of fossils, tools, etc. that folks left behind but none of it was ever anything special. Wish I had time to drive up there and look myself. I'm long overdue for a trip home (Dayton, OH) and some quality time in the Cincinnatian strata. You didn't find my vintage leather handled rock hammer at Wilson's Clay Pit did you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Bad luck, old chap. But hopefully someone will read this, rescue them and pass them on to you or at the very least give them a loving home. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Reminds me of the time I was shooed off a beach by state park employees; they told me to drop my fossils and as soon as they left some people walked over there and were astonished by the pile of fossils they had happened upon It happens, but hey, maybe someone will find it and give it back. If not, then you probably made someone’s day! “...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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarrodB Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 I hope you get them back or at least someone who appreciates them finds them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 The Forum is populated by a lot of fine people so there is a chance they may come back to you. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott S. Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Thank you all for your support. Again, Hope someone finds and appreciates the trilobites. In the meantime, here are a few really nice pics of the other things found on the trip. My student found this killer prone Flexicalymene within the first hour at the Grant Lake site. I was pretty content with my really nice little Hindia sponge sample. Evidently my images are pretty large so I'll have to add them one at a time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott S. Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Here's the nice little Hindia. This one is also from the Grant Lake 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott S. Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 The second (Cincinnatian) site we visited had Kope through the Fairview (I think maybe even Bellview). Anyway couldn't pass up the beautiful Constellaria florida. I did however pull out some Constellaria polystomella from the Clarksville from two sites in the Richmondian later on the second day. That was pretty exciting since Constellaria is considerably less common in the Richmondian. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott S. Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Also picked up a perfect internal of Modiolopsis, and found a nice scattering of ossicles from Pycnocrinus. These are from the Grant Lake and Fairview respectively. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott S. Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Gotta head off to work. Still have some nice pictures of my Richmondian stuff and will post here later today. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Very nice so far. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 1 hour ago, Scott S. said: Gotta head off to work. Still have some nice pictures of my Richmondian stuff and will post here later today. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt2396 Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Sorry to hear about your bugs, I nabbed someone's rock hammer high up on the west side of the cut when I was there in June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 Beautiful finds so far - can't wait to see the rest!!! Oh, and I am also - I love inverts!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 That stinks. I had a similar thing happen to me. I left a nice Estwing rock hammer near a cut in Eastern Kentucky. Came back to look for it a few weeks later and someone had taken it. It was a nice hammer, hopefully they are using it to find some good fossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilSniper Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 On 3/20/2018 at 1:23 PM, Scott S. said: Kindest regards. Scott Hello! I’m a hunter and I go to the roadcut whenever given the chance (I am usually in CT, but I travel to Ohio for weeks at a time). Can we PM? I’d be happy to look for the bag! I already have a handful of flexi trilobite rollers from the site, so I won’t keep the bag, (I usually prefer my own self-discovered fossils over other people’s fossils) assuming I find it. I will I’ll be going to the cut very often this summer, so I can definitely spend some time looking for the bag containing all your goodies. Must really be sad to lose trilobites! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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