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Wrangellian

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I don't know if this is the best category to post this under, or should it go under 'Member Collections' as the items are now part of my collection...

 

A week ago already (Saturday), a couple from the local rockhounds had a garage sale. I think much of the material belonged to the club as these folks had been hosting the club's workshop equipment and it was being moved out to a new place. They said "There are some fossils"... but couldn't say what kind.

Unfortunately they couldn't tell me much about the locations, not being fossil people who are careful to record that sort of info.

This is the same guy who told me where I might find the source of my possibly-local (Vancouver Island) trilobites that I posted some years ago. I tried pressing him for a clearer idea but I'm hampered by poor maps. I got a slightly better idea but everyone's telling me the gates are always closed now to these backcountry locations and the club looked into getting a key but found out it would cost $1000+ and whatever else. Very frustrating. How am I supposed to solve the mystery now??

Anyway, here's what I got.

 

Nice little Glyptostrobus(?) frond. No location given but it looks like the kind of thing we find around here in our Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Gp but the rock is a little different than what I'm familiar with. Nice specimen anyway.

Glyptostrobus.thumb.jpg.5bf9a1de0855e7f25c5f5414ed20e7bd.jpg

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Typical Inoceramus sp. that we get around here. I think this one is from Hornby Island (Upper Campanian Northumberland Fm.)

 

Inoceramus.jpg

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Some trilobits from Utah... Not sure if there is anything complete in here except for one or two that are ventrally exposed. I really need to get some sort of prepping setup...

 

Utah trilobits.jpg

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The best one I think is this trilobite which I believe to be from Mt Stephen, Yoho Nat'l Park (near Burgess Shale):

I guess Ogygopsis klotzi?

Very pleased to add it to my other two from that location (Olenellus and Bathyuriscus), which I also acquired from one of the old rockhounds some years back. (No, they weren't 'poached' recently! Apparently it was somewhat common back in the day for rockhounds in this part of the country to stop at the trilobite site on their way through and collect - without getting into trouble. Then they started cracking down...)

 

[note to mods: if this is too risky for me to post, I don't mind if this particular post is removed]

 

MtStephenTrilo.jpg

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10 minutes ago, doushantuo said:

here's what I think::envy::P

You're too quick! See the next item after your post...

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Some non-fossil items too:

Black coral from Hawaii.. I'm told this stuff is now protected to some extent, and that you can't even sell it anymore, like ivory. I guess that renders it worthless? (monetarily at least). I already had a few pieces of this but they had a tray full of it and my mother bought the whole thing. I've picked out the better, less-adulterated pieces and put them with my earlier pieces into a Riker mount:

 

black coral.jpg

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Lastly, there was a binocular microscope. I only saw the box and walked past it, initially. The president of the club pointed it out to me and pressure-sold it to me. It was a 'make an offer' item. I was afraid of spending more money but she said "even 5 bucks might do it." They just want to get rid of the stuff. I had been looking for a bino microscope for some time, anyway, but I was having trouble seeing anything thru it, it's a bit dirty. Thought I might as well - you can't sniff at it for $5, and I might be able to clean it up with some alcohol and a q-tip. We'll see...

 

 

microscope1.jpg

microscope2.jpg

microscope3.jpg

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Oh, one more thing... I believe this is chalcedony and not some agatized fossil of some sort? No idea where it is from. Any tips would be appreciated.

 

chalcedony1.jpg

chalcedony2.jpg

chalcedony3.jpg

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yep,"Gorgonaria" are enjoying heavy protection.

Cool stuff ,and that from a garage sale,to boot

 

 

 

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That's good. I get the impression this stuff was widely available back in the day, though, given the label you see in the pic above (from an airport jewelry shop!)

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Score!  I hope that microscope cleans up, and works for you.  That’ll be a deal of a lifetime if it does. I’ve had the thought of purchasing one on my mind for several years.  There’s no doubt I wouldn’t have let that deal pass me by, either.    

       That black coral is sweet!  I had never heard of it, and look forward to reading up a little more about it now that you’ve presented it.  Thanks for sharing!

    

Finding my way through life; one fossil at a time.

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2 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

The best one I think is this trilobite which I believe to be from Mt Stephen, Yoho Nat'l Park (near Burgess Shale):

I guess Ogygopsis klotzi?

Very pleased to add it to my other two from that location (Olenellus and Bathyuriscus), which I also acquired from one of the old rockhounds some years back. (No, they weren't 'poached' recently! Apparently it was somewhat common back in the day for rockhounds in this part of the country to stop at the trilobite site on their way through and collect - without getting into trouble. Then they started cracking down...)

 

[note to mods: if this is too risky for me to post, I don't mind if this particular post is removed]

 

MtStephenTrilo.jpg

 

:o I must start learning about trilobites

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Those (octo)corals were being brought up from the deeps by "native" divers,who risked their lives doing that.Economics dictated a certain way of collecting,

much like diving for sponges,methinx.No SCUBA!!!Many of them got the bends and died early.

CiTES didn't exist yet,a couple of decades ago.

Octocorals are sensitive creatures,BTW.

As such they are ,like i've said before ,GREAT paleo-ecological indicators 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Some trilobits from Utah... Not sure if there is anything complete in here except for one or two that are ventrally exposed. I really need to get some sort of prepping setup...

 

Utah trilobits.jpg

These are pretty easy to prep and pop with just a pin and loupe. 

Here's a thread about it.

 

Lots of good acquisitions, but the Ogygopsis is really speacial. :drool:

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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I'm sure you'll be able to get that old scope working. Those older models are built like tanks. Nice finds.

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Thanks all.

The scope is built like a tank. I love stuff like that. I have yet to try cleaning it, but just looking thru it I have a bit of trouble converging the two fields of view - maybe that's just my eyes, but, I tried swiveling the two sides but there is no 'sweet spot' where the converging is easy. Anyhow I was able to see the tiny 1/10 and 1/100 mm scale in the middle of the dot on that piece of glass - pretty amazing that they could make that back however long ago this thing was made (I guess the glass could be newer than the scope but I doubt it). There is also a 10x10 grid visible in one of the right eyepieces, but it doesn't quite seem to match the scale on the glass when I try to line them up.

Oh well!

It would be nice if I could rig up a way to take pics thru it, but that's probably impossible.

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10 hours ago, ricardo said:

 

:o I must start learning about trilobites

Are you anywhere near the places in Portugal that produce trilobites?

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2 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Thanks all.

The scope is built like a tank. I love stuff like that. I have yet to try cleaning it, but just looking thru it I have a bit of trouble converging the two fields of view - maybe that's just my eyes, but, I tried swiveling the two sides but there is no 'sweet spot' where the converging is easy. Anyhow I was able to see the tiny 1/10 and 1/100 mm scale in the middle of the dot on that piece of glass - pretty amazing that they could make that back however long ago this thing was made (I guess the glass could be newer than the scope but I doubt it). There is also a 10x10 grid visible in one of the right eyepieces, but it doesn't quite seem to match the scale on the glass when I try to line them up.

Oh well!

It would be nice if I could rig up a way to take pics thru it, but that's probably impossible.

That grid is a type of reticle in the eyepiece and can easily be removed if it is annoying.  It is an arbitrary scale because if you change magnifications, the scale changes.   You can calibrate it by putting a measuring device on the stage at a given magnification and measure the grid size.  Then you can use the grid to estimate size while looking through the scope without need of a ruler. Repeat for different magnification settings, and make a conversion table and tape it on the arm of the scope.  I hope this makes sense :P

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