Some prep results from Holzmaden

[belemniten]

On 30.11.2018 at 5:48 PM, jpc said:

What is your machine doing?  Can we help solve the problem?  

Thanks for the offer but I dont think so.  About a month ago a filter was blocked because of too fine blasting abrasive and now I have that problem again... So I will buy new blasting abrasive iron powder and send the machine again back to the producer. Hopefully it will work after that ...

 

21 hours ago, JohnBrewer said:

Superb work again Sebastian. Feel free to send me the common ichthy fossils  

 Thanks John! If they would be common there I would send you some but sadly they arent 

 

9 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

What are those radiating lines? I suspect it is not fossil or else not something as important as croc bones otherwise you wouldn't have obliterated it!

 

@LiamL already gave the correct answer! I dont really collect ammonites there because they are extremely common (and they are flat ). 

 

4 hours ago, LiamL said:

Love to see this material, even cooler to see it prepped. Similar stuff to what i try and find! 

Is Holzmaden matrix soft or quite hard material?

Thanks Liam  You have indeed more or less the same interests as I! The matrix is very different. For example the "Schlacke" (certain layer) is very hard and sandblasting doesnt really work there (I have some ribs, on which i have this problem). But the "normal Posidonia Shale" isnt that hard and you can prep, for example belemnits fast. 

 

3 hours ago, doushantuo said:

Wonderful ,Seb!You should be(and probably are) proud of yourself!

Thanky you very much Ben 

 

3 hours ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Why didn't I see this thread earlier? 

Amazing fossils and prep work  The stuff is simply splendid!!

-Christian

Thanks Christian  I really appreciate your kind words!

[RJB]

  Youve got some nice stuff here belemniten.  Some of the best belemnites ive seen! 

 

RB

[Wrangellian]

5 hours ago, belemniten said:

 

@LiamL already gave the correct answer! I dont really collect ammonites there because they are extremely common (and they are flat ).

I see what you mean about 'flat' in some of the pieces you posted earlier... But if I were there I know I'd be collecting some of the better, more complete specimens of each taxon. Anyhow you're doing great with the belemnites... Like RJB says they are some of the best I've seen. They look like they're made of metal, like something made in a machine shop!

[jpc]

37 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

I see what you mean about 'flat' in some of the pieces you posted earlier... But if I were there I know I'd be collecting some of the better, more complete specimens of each taxon. Anyhow you're doing great with the belemnites... Like RJB says they are some of the best I've seen. They look like they're made of metal, like something made in a machine shop!

I suspect he has...As I understand it,  there are basically six species of ammonites found there and in a day you can find all of them.  Ammonites are indeed extremely common at the Kromer pit.  

[Wrangellian]

11 hours ago, jpc said:

I suspect he has...As I understand it,  there are basically six species of ammonites found there and in a day you can find all of them.  Ammonites are indeed extremely common at the Kromer pit.  

Sounds like my kind of place.  Have these been posted anywhere?

[belemniten]

19 hours ago, RJB said:

  Youve got some nice stuff here belemniten.  Some of the best belemnites ive seen! 

 

RB

Thank you very much RB

 

16 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

I see what you mean about 'flat' in some of the pieces you posted earlier... But if I were there I know I'd be collecting some of the better, more complete specimens of each taxon.

As @jpc already wrote I did that in the past. To be honest: I sometimes cant resist to collect one or two nice ammonites and because of that I have way too many of them  I started to collect ammonites, then belemnites and now I am concentrating on bones and teeth.

 

5 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Sounds like my kind of place.  Have these been posted anywhere?

Here is a good overview:
http://www.holzmadenfossilien.de/inhalte start klein/Ammoniten.html

 

16 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

 Anyhow you're doing great with the belemnites... Like RJB says they are some of the best I've seen. They look like they're made of metal, like something made in a machine shop!

Thank you @Wrangellian
 

Today I was in the Hauff museum in Holzmaden and I could confirm my ID of the crocodile bones. 

Here is a bad picture for comparison:

 

 

I marked one of the crocodile vertebra. It looks very similar to my bone!

 

And here is a picture I took for you Wrangellian:

 

 

A plate with many Dactylioceras commune, which is probably the commonest ammonite there.

 

 

[belemniten]

Here are two more belemnites, which are more or less finished:

 

First one is a 9 cm long Acrocoelites gracilis:

 

 

Second one is a 14 cm long Acrocoelites, which is one of my personal favourites:

 

 

 

Here you can see one of the three apical furrows:

[Wrangellian]

On 12/2/2018 at 12:25 PM, belemniten said:

And here is a picture I took for you Wrangellian:

A plate with many Dactylioceras commune, which is probably the commonest ammonite there.

Ah, that's what one of the real, unaltered plates looks like, is it? I've got a small one from online seller that appears to be doctored up (below) - the larger ammos appear to be artificially colored and the whole piece is coated in some kind of wax.

I know what you mean - I'd be always tempted to collect any nice example I came across even if I already had many of them. I do that already with certain things from my local site, but they are mainly small bivalves - the only thing that's really abundant.

 

 

 

[jpc]

wrangellian-I don't think yours is too doctored,  The color is natural.  The beeswax, OK, that is doctoring.  

[belemniten]

On 12/3/2018 at 6:07 AM, Wrangellian said:

Ah, that's what one of the real, unaltered plates looks like, is it? I've got a small one from online seller that appears to be doctored up (below) - the larger ammos appear to be artificially colored and the whole piece is coated in some kind of wax.

I know what you mean - I'd be always tempted to collect any nice example I came across even if I already had many of them. I do that already with certain things from my local site, but they are mainly small bivalves - the only thing that's really abundant.

 

Thats actually a very nice specimen  And the colors seems to be natural indeed. 

 

Here is one of mine for comparison:

 

[Ptychodus04]

@belemniten those are some beautiful belemnites. Well done on your superb preparations!

[Wrangellian]

8 hours ago, belemniten said:

Thats actually a very nice specimen  And the colors seems to be natural indeed. 

 

On mine there are many smaller ammo's that lack color completely - see for instance the one near the middle-right edge which is almost the size of the colored one near the bottom edge but lacks color... I can't imagine why only some of the larger specimens would have color except that someone added it to make them stand out from all the smaller ones. Anyway I like your unaltered/uncoated specimen better!

[belemniten]

On 3.12.2018 at 9:15 PM, Ptychodus04 said:

@belemniten those are some beautiful belemnites. Well done on your superb preparations!

Thanks you very much 

 

On 4.12.2018 at 4:02 AM, Wrangellian said:

On mine there are many smaller ammo's that lack color completely - see for instance the one near the middle-right edge which is almost the size of the colored one near the bottom edge but lacks color... I can't imagine why only some of the larger specimens would have color except that someone added it to make them stand out from all the smaller ones. Anyway I like your unaltered/uncoated specimen better!

Ok then the picture is maybe a bit intriguing! And thanks 

 

I am still not able to prep because of my tools and because of the lack of time at the moment .... 

[Wrangellian]

I don't know, I look at my specimen and it could be real (aside from the wax) or it might be enhanced. I can't decide. I thought one of them had scratch marks as if someone tried to enhance the ribbing after slathering them with paint, but that could be the actual ribbing. Again, I can't tell. Is it possible for some ammo's to have that color and others not, on the same plate?

[belemniten]

Hi guys

 

sorry I was a bit inactive recently because I was quite busy. But now I have prepped two more pieces:

 

First one is a 6 cm long part of a fish jaw, maybe Saurorynchus? Next to it is a beautiful bivalve.

 

 

 

And the second one is a 1.5 cm long Ichthyosaur tooth. Its on a plate with many belemnites but the stone is very hard so I am not sure if I can prep them all but lets see  I will post a picture of the whole stone after I am finished with prepping ...

 

 

I wish you all a happy christmas !! 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Happy Christmas to you too! 

Super thread with some great photos and marvelous specimens!

Look forward to the next batch. 

[JohnBrewer]

That’s a nice shiny tooth Sebastian. Not a too shabby size either. The tips can be pretty fragile and I see there maybe a crack over the tip. Worth consolidating with some Paraloid or similar before the pen vibrations pop it out!

[Ludwigia]

Merry Christmas to you too, Sebastian!

[belemniten]

13 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Happy Christmas to you too! 

Super thread with some great photos and marvelous specimens!

Look forward to the next batch. 

Thanks for the kind words Adam

 

13 hours ago, JohnBrewer said:

That’s a nice shiny tooth Sebastian. Not a too shabby size either. The tips can be pretty fragile and I see there maybe a crack over the tip. Worth consolidating with some Paraloid or similar before the pen vibrations pop it out!

Thanks John  And yes its not that small as many other ichthyosaur teeth I find here! I was also worrying about the tip so I will maybe try to stabilize it bofre I prep it further .... Thanks for the hint!!

 

12 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Merry Christmas to you too, Sebastian!

Thanks Roger 

 

Just prepped some more things! 

Another fish jaw. Its probably a Saurorynchus lower jaw but I am not sure ... 

 

 

Its about 7 cm long and here is a detailed picture of the small teeth:

 

 

I prepped some more belemnits too. Here is a 16 cm long one together with a fragment of another one:

 

 

 

 

[belemniten]

Yesterday I finished this partial Ichthyosaur rib, which I found 2017 in the quarry Kromer. Its about 12 cm long:
 

 

 

And another belemnite (perhaps Acrocoelites) with a length of 10 cm:
 

[FossilsAnonymous]

@belemniten amazing! I really like the shapes of those dactlyoceras from the other pages of the thread, despite them being flat. They are interesting and I am fascinated by them. Do you know why they were flat?Do you know if I can buy them anywhere?

 

Thanks a ton, FA

[belemniten]

9 hours ago, FossilsAnonymous said:

@belemniten amazing! I really like the shapes of those dactlyoceras from the other pages of the thread, despite them being flat. They are interesting and I am fascinated by them. Do you know why they were flat?Do you know if I can buy them anywhere?

 

Thanks a ton, FA

 

Thank you very much  

I honestly didnt really think much about the fact that ammonites are so flat there. I think its because the calcareous casings of them were dissolved. What remains of the ammonites today is a very thin skin, the periostracum (conchiolin), from which the case was wrapped. 

Its actually a very very common fossil, so you should be able to buy it almost everywhere... If you wouldnt live in America I would collect some of them for you. And I think I forgot an "i", it should be called "Dactylioceras".

[FossilsAnonymous]

Just now, belemniten said:

 

Thank you very much  

I honestly didnt really think much about the fact that ammonites are so flat there. I think its because the calcareous casings of them were dissolved. What remains of the ammonites today is a very thin skin, the periostracum (conchiolin), from which the case was wrapped. 

Its actually a very very common fossil, so you should be able to buy it almost anywhere... If you wouldnt live in America I would collect some of them for you. And I think I forgot an "i", it should be called "Dactylioceras".

That’s really interesting! Aargh, I hate living in America! Collecting just really isn’t good around where I live, darn! Thank you though.

[FossilsAnonymous]

@belemniten I think it is the shape that interests me the most, just their curls and abnormal flatness are wonderful!

[belemniten]

So after a long time I finally prepped something from Holzmaden again. 

The story of this one is kinda curious because on the stone was firstly only a damaged vertebra visible. But after a hit with my hammer I saw two cross sections, which belong to Ichthyosaur ribs:
 

 

So after that I started the prep:

 

 

And thats the finished result:

 

 

It was very though to prep it because the stone is extremely hard and the separation layer between the fossil and stone was bad. I think all in all it took about 5 hours to finish this one. I am not completely satisfied with the result but its okay

 

Two more detailed pictures: