The Growing Collection of Ziggycardon

[ziggycardon]

Got many new exciting fossils from the paleotime fair yesterday!

Managed to cross off multiple items which were very high up my wishlist!

 

I'll start with my favorite piece, my big joy!
A male Coccosteus cuspidatus found in Old Red Sandstone, Orcadian Basin, Orkney, Scotland, GB - Devonian, Givetian, 385 mya
This was one of the fossils from my top 3 wishlist, I've been looking to buy one for over 5 years. I am so happy with this beauty!
My first relatively complete placoderm!

 

 

Two Squalodon Antverpiensis teeth found in Antwerp, Belgium - Miocene,  16 - 11 mya
Another fossil which was high on my wishlist.

 

 

Another fossil which I've been trying to get for over a year, a Placodus gigas tooth found in the Muschelkalk, Trochitenkalk Formation, Bindlach (Lainecker Höhenzug), near Bayreuth, Germany - Triassic, Ladinian, 239 - 237 mya

 

My Triassic display is getting a bit crowded now...

 

 

the Hyolith Pauxillites thaddei and some bivalves (Babinka prima) found in the Upper Fezouata Formation, Zagora, Draa Valley, Morocco - Ordovician, Tremadocian, 479 - 472 mya

 

 

Kinneyia simulans stromatolite found in Mc Rea Shale, Hammersley Range, Western Australia - Precambrian, 2,6 - 2,4 billion years old.

 

 

A Wooly Rhino tooth (Coelodonta antiquitatis) found in Zemst, Belgium - Pleistocene, Eemian, 100 000 years old
A rhino tooth from a rare long closed location near Brussels, quite rare to see material from this location and quite cool to have one that doesn't come from either the north sea or Siberia.

 

 

Purchased some cool fossils from my good friend Jonathan as well, who also had a stand at the fair.

 

Like this very rare Clausocaris lithographica found in the Solnhofen Limestone, Solnhofen Formation, Bavaria, Germany - Jurassic, Tithonian, 150 mya

 

 

A Rhombodus binkhorsti tooth found in the Ouled Abdoun Basin, Khouribga, Morocco - Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 70 mya

 

 

A piece of baltic amber with a mosquito - Eocene, 44 mya

 

 

A beetle in Baltic Amber - Eocene, 44 mya

[ziggycardon]

A very small Theropod indet. tooth which I showed to a couple of present vertebrate paleontologist who believed it might be a Dromaeosauridae tooth.
But I'll have to check the serrations under the microscope, but when I saw it my thought went to Dromaeosaurid as well, and it bears a lot of resemblance to my Sauronitholestes tooth as well.

 

 

A leaf in Travertine found in Mariastein, Tirol, Austria - Holocene

 

 

A piece of petrified wood (Araucaria) found in the Isalo II Formation, Ambilobe, Madagascar - Triassic, Norian, 220 mya

 

 

 

 

 

And another item which I've been looking for for ages, a Moeritherium lyonsi lower jaw cast found in Qasr el Sagha Formation, Al Fayum, Egypt - Eocene, Priabonian, 37 - 34 mya
Since eocene proboscidean material is impossible to get, this was my best chance to add some eocene representation in my proboscidean display, I was quite ecstatic when I saw this one lying around at the fair!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Glad you got a Moeritherium and I learned something new as well.

[Psittacosaur9]

I know others have mentioned this before, but you should seriously consider opening a museum with your collection at some point, similar to how Warren Somerville donated much of his mineral and fossil collection to establish the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst. All you'd need is some big centrepiece fossil replica skeleton or something, like a decently sized dinosaur or proboscidean, and you'd be golden.

[ziggycardon]

9 hours ago, Psittacosaur9 said:

I know others have mentioned this before, but you should seriously consider opening a museum with your collection at some point, similar to how Warren Somerville donated much of his mineral and fossil collection to establish the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst. All you'd need is some big centrepiece fossil replica skeleton or something, like a decently sized dinosaur or proboscidean, and you'd be golden.

Thanks, well while nothing is certain yet. Who knows I might win the lottery one day and be able to open my own museum lol

But I am not planning on having kids, so not really anyone to inherit my fossils, exept perhaps for my little nephew who has a great interest in everything fossils but we'll have to see if it lasts ofcourse.

But I have been thinking what to do with my collection once I am gone...
I volunteer at the oertijdmuseum in Boxtel so I might like part of my collection to go there as long as they view it worthy enough for research, education or display.
The pieces they don"t take I might want to donate to the museum of my fossilclub should that still exist when I pass.
And if there is anything left by then and I have no heirs, I would have no problem that my fossils would be put on auction to benefit the fossil forum.

But I am still only 28, so please don't send any hitmen after me

 

ps: I want to buried in a place that is good for fosilization and I want silica rich water to be poured every day on my grave, I want to come out opalized in a couple of million years

Edited December 8, 2023 by ziggycardon

[Psittacosaur9]

46 minutes ago, ziggycardon said:

Thanks, well while nothing is certain yet. Who knows I might win the lottery one day and be able to open my own museum lol

But I am not planning on having kids, so not really anyone to inherit my fossils, exept perhaps for my little nephew who has a great interest in everything fossils but we'll have to see if it lasts ofcourse.

But I have been thinking what to do with my collection once I am gone...
I volunteer at the oertijdmuseum in Boxtel so I might like part of my collection to go there as long as they view it worthy enough for research, education or display.
The pieces they don"t take I might want to donate to the museum of my fossilclub should that still exist when I pass.
And if there is anything left by then and I have no heirs, I would have no problem that my fossils would be put on auction to benefit the fossil forum.

But I am still only 28, so please don't send any hitmen after me

 

ps: I want to buried in a place that is good for fosilization and I want silica rich water to be poured every day on my grave, I want to come out opalized in a couple of million years

Don't worry about any hitmen, but I think it would be awesome if you got to send your fossils to museums following your passing. I'd also love to be buried in a similar way.

 

Just out of interest, how do you manage to acquire such a volume of specimens?

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 12/8/2023 at 11:01 PM, Psittacosaur9 said:

Just out of interest, how do you manage to acquire such a volume of specimens?

The aforementioned hitmen actually work for him.

 

[Psittacosaur9]

11 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

The aforementioned hitmen actually work for him.

 

[Psittacosaur9]

@ziggycardon Sorry to bother you again but I would like to know how big are your labels for your specimens? I've created some labels to print out for my own growing, collection, so I'd like to know the best size for them.

[ziggycardon]

On 12/16/2023 at 2:14 AM, Tidgy's Dad said:

The aforementioned hitmen actually work for him.

 

Snitches get stitches...

 

12 hours ago, Psittacosaur9 said:

@ziggycardon Sorry to bother you again but I would like to know how big are your labels for your specimens? I've created some labels to print out for my own growing, collection, so I'd like to know the best size for them.

No problem, I use multiple sizes depending on display and fossil.

The largest ones I use for my Proboscidean display as well as some of the bigger standalone fossils.

These are around 7 * 4,5 cm (depending on photo size)

I use Calibri (font size 11) bold for the name of the animal

and Calibri (font size 10) for the other info

 

My common cards which I mainly use are around 4 - 5 in length and 2,5 - 3 in height.
Is use Calibri (8) for the name

the other info is usually Calibri (7), sometimes 6 if the information is quite long.

 

And for the fossils without any pictures on the card is usually go for;

Calibri (6) for name

and Calibri (5) for the rest.

 

I hope that was somewhat helpfull!

 

 

 

 

[ziggycardon]

On 12/8/2023 at 11:01 PM, Psittacosaur9 said:

Just out of interest, how do you manage to acquire such a volume of specimens?

 

I don't drink, I don't smoke and I don't do any drugs...

I still live at home with my parents so I don't really have to worry to much about my finances.

And besides my animals and doing comic con's, I don't really have many other hobbies besides fossils. And since my animals have also become part of my professional life I shifted my focus as a hobby towards fossils as they don't need as much care as their living counterparts

So yeah I have been collecting non-stop since 2015, and unlike most other collectors I don't focuss on either on or two animal groups or an a couple of locations or certain time periods.
I am a generalist and I see my collection as a book that tells the story of the history of life on our planet. I see each display as chapters and each fossil as a page from that book.
My goal is to get my book to tell that story as accurately as I can

So I shift my focus from time to time to dinosaurs or to paleozoïc fish, then to cenozoïc mammals and currently I got something of a softspot for Cenozoïc snakes for some odd reason.
I feel having a broad field of interest and terrible money skills can build a collection quite quickly lol

 

... The hitmen help as well.
I am coming for those brachiopods next @Tidgy's Dad

Edited December 18, 2023 by ziggycardon

[Tidgy's Dad]

7 minutes ago, ziggycardon said:

Snitches get stitches...

He who shreiks and runs away,

Lives to flee another day.

[Tidgy's Dad]

1 minute ago, ziggycardon said:

 

... The hitmen help as well.
I am coming for those brachiopods next @Tidgy's Dad

Hmmm.

That is something worth fighting for.

And I want your Eifelian brachs!

En garde!

[Psittacosaur9]

3 hours ago, ziggycardon said:

No problem, I use multiple sizes depending on display and fossil.

The largest ones I use for my Proboscidean display as well as some of the bigger standalone fossils.

These are around 7 * 4,5 cm (depending on photo size)

I use Calibri (font size 11) bold for the name of the animal

and Calibri (font size 10) for the other info

 

My common cards which I mainly use are around 4 - 5 in length and 2,5 - 3 in height.
Is use Calibri (8) for the name

the other info is usually Calibri (7), sometimes 6 if the information is quite long.

 

And for the fossils without any pictures on the card is usually go for;

Calibri (6) for name

and Calibri (5) for the rest.

 

I hope that was somewhat helpfull!

 

Thank you, that is helpful.

 

3 hours ago, ziggycardon said:

 

I don't drink, I don't smoke and I don't do any drugs...

I still live at home with my parents so I don't really have to worry to much about my finances.

And besides my animals and doing comic con's, I don't really have many other hobbies besides fossils. And since my animals have also become part of my professional life I shifted my focus as a hobby towards fossils as they don't need as much care as their living counterparts

So yeah I have been collecting non-stop since 2015, and unlike most other collectors I don't focuss on either on or two animal groups or an a couple of locations or certain time periods.
I am a generalist and I see my collection as a book that tells the story of the history of life on our planet. I see each display as chapters and each fossil as a page from that book.
My goal is to get my book to tell that story as accurately as I can

So I shift my focus from time to time to dinosaurs or to paleozoïc fish, then to cenozoïc mammals and currently I got something of a softspot for Cenozoïc snakes for some odd reason.
I feel having a broad field of interest and terrible money skills can build a collection quite quickly lol

 

... The hitmen help as well.
I am coming for those brachiopods next @Tidgy's Dad

 

snarge, I'll make sure to stay out of the way of those hitmen!

 

But yeah, that all seems reasonable. I have a similar philosophy to fossil collecting, and I'd love for one day my collection to represent a solid story of the history of life on Earth. I've been collecting on-and-off since 2015, but recently have become more serious about collecting and most of my more expensive and rare pieces I have purchased since 2021. Currently taking a break as I just purchased a decently expensive stromatolite and need to save up for when I go travelling next year, when I'll probably find some new fossils to collect or purchase anyway. Thanks for the response!

[Polybranchiaspidida]

Hello! Your labels look really nice. Did you make them yourself?

[ziggycardon]

9 hours ago, Polybranchiaspidida said:

Hello! Your labels look really nice. Did you make them yourself?

Hi, thank you!
And yes, I do indeed.