Probably unidentifiable marine fossils

[Mesoceph]

This is my final post for tonight, and then I will stop cluttering up the forum.  Unfortunately, this specimen has been badly weathered and so may not be identifiable at all, but the shapes are so intriguing that I can't help but ask.  Any thoughts here would be very much appreciated.  The two angles are from different sides of the same rock.  Sadly, I did not find this specimen myself, and so I do not have any particularly useful information on age or location.  It was left in a desk drawer along with a collection of other invertebrate fossils, most (if not all) of which are Paleozoic in age.  Here are the pictures.  Thank you in advance for your time and input.

 

Side #1:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Side #2:

 

 

 

[DatFossilBoy]

Hi,

To me it looks a bit like a worm type of organism or something like that.

It can also be coral???

Not an expert, Lets see what the others say.

It is hard with no 100% location.

Lets see.

Regards

[Mesoceph]

Thanks for your thoughts!  These are odd, so I'm at a loss.

[oilshale]

I'd say that's the cross section of a crinoid stem element. 

[izak_]

12 minutes ago, oilshale said:

I'd say that's the cross section of a crinoid stem element. 

Agreed

[Mesoceph]

That makes sense!  I had to stare at the rock for a few minutes after I read your replies to make sense of it, but it seems especially likely given that there are several much smaller crinoid stem ossicles in the rock elsewhere; I just did not understand the geometry of what I was seeing until you pointed it out to me.  Thank you!  

[Tidgy's Dad]

Yup, lots of bits of crinoid stem in a limestone pebble. 

[MeargleSchmeargl]

10 hours ago, Mesoceph said:

This is my final post for tonight, and then I will stop cluttering up the forum.  Unfortunately, this specimen has been badly weathered and so may not be identifiable at all, but the shapes are so intriguing that I can't help but ask.  Any thoughts here would be very much appreciated.  The two angles are from different sides of the same rock.  Sadly, I did not find this specimen myself, and so I do not have any particularly useful information on age or location.  It was left in a desk drawer along with a collection of other invertebrate fossils, most (if not all) of which are Paleozoic in age.  Here are the pictures.  Thank you in advance for your time and input.

 

What is the age? Can you find the original owner? 

 

My first guess is some type of Graptolite.

[Carl]

Yep, those sure agree with crinoid stem fragments.

[FranzBernhard]

I would say its a river-tumbled rock with crinoid stem fragments .

If this rock would be from Austria, I would say its lower Jurassic "Hierlatz"-limestone. But sure it isn´t from Austria . Do you have a hint of the general area where this fossils are from?
Franz Bernhard

 

[abyssunder]

crinoidal limestone pebble

 

[Mesoceph]

@MeargleSchmeargl @FranzBernhard Sadly, I don't know who the original owner was.  It was just whoever used my grad school desk before I got there, and that kind of furniture gets really passed around so much that it's impossible to say who would have had it before me (especially 10 years after the fact).  The grad school was in Chicago, so the fossils would most likely have come from the midwestern US, but potentially could have been brought back from literally anywhere in the world.

 

However, I am very grateful that people have taken the time to respond.  Thank you very much; just knowing that these are crinoid stems is a major improvement on what I knew before (e.g., nothing).