What fossils should be in every collector’s collection?

[KimTexan]

10 hours ago, Abstraktum said:

Everybody should have a fully grown T-Rex skeleton (no restoration, no fabrication, 100 % of all bones). Because how awesome can it be to have a T-Rex

 

Don't get to serious on this topic. Collect what you love and enjoy your fossils (as long as you get your hands on a T-Rex ).

I jokingly told my daughter she “better be glad we don’t live in some place like South Dakota or Wyoming. The next thing you know I would be finding a whole triceratops or Edmontosaurus or something. You think the bison takes up a lot of space. Wait till you see how much space one of those critters takes up.” LOL

I definitely couldn’t carry that one out by myself.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

3 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

I jokingly told my daughter she “better be glad we don’t live in some place like South Dakota or Wyoming. The next thing you know I would be finding a whole triceratops or Edmontosaurus or something. You think the bison takes up a lot of space. Wait till you see how much space one of those critters takes up.” LOL

I definitely couldn’t carry that one out by myself.

Can you imagine trying to hike out a Triceratops femur or skull and having to store it at home? Just one of those would fill up all the space I’ve got.

[Tidgy's Dad]

7 minutes ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

Can you imagine trying to hike out a Triceratops femur or skull and having to store it at home? Just one of those would fill up all the space I’ve got.

I think wifey would be a bit miffed if I knocked a wall down to get a Triceratops skull into the living room. 

[KimTexan]

10 hours ago, 5 Humper said:

For the North American collector (yet applicable anywhere), a collection should include comparative sets of homologous bones within taxonomic units so that the similarities and differences between closely related and distantly related species are apparent in hand for the collector. We don't just collect just to have something.  It's about learning.  Fossils are amazing to me as comparative sets between closely related species because this allows for pondering of evolutionary history in ways that having only a single specimen from a single species from a single taxonomic unit cannot.   

 

This is kind of along that line of thinking. When I’m in a new spot I try to collect everything to build up a representative collection of the diversity of the ecosystem. I don’t like oysters, but I pick them up so that I can have a whole picture of what was coexisting together in that particular environment. Many places here in North Central Texas it is easy to find more than 15-20, sometimes many more different types of fossils.

Representative fossils are import in giving us cross section of the ecosystem. Sometimes here in Texas you can see the food chain, mosasaur, sharks, ammonites, echinoids, bivalves, gastropods and crustaceans all together along with petrified wood. 

Then there are the diversity of a class, order or suborder collections. There are some places I can go and find 5 or more genus of ammonites. That wows me.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

2 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I think wifey would be a bit miffed if I knocked a wall down to get a Triceratops skull into the living room. 

You bet if I found a Triceratops skull, a wall would be coming down in my house.

[KimTexan]

20 minutes ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

Can you imagine trying to hike out a Triceratops femur or skull and having to store it at home? Just one of those would fill up all the space I’ve got.

Right now my bison is taking up my whole dining room table. I’ve got another big table in my kitchen thought that I can use.

If I were a man, putting my bison on the dining room table would never fly with a wife around. But I’m the woman of the house and I’m ok with it being there temporarily.

 

I got a book in the mail today on conservation (fossil, artifacts. . .) techniques and materials that I bought after finding the bison. My daughter said the title “sounded like something a mortician would read”. Then she said “Mom, you’re like a mortician for extinct things!” LOL. That girl sure makes me laugh. 

[KimTexan]

6 hours ago, 5 Humper said:

Bahaha!  What's a matter with us?

 

Stepped in some future coprolites (albeit now flattened).   Ahh, the memories.  I'm sure we all have em.  

Goodness, I think you may have outdone most of us on the wildlife adventure side of things. Cool and scary at the same time on some of those. I’m sure there are mosquitoes in there somewhere too. They can be fierce.

 

Wild hogs, rattlesnakes, copperheads, cotton mouths, skunks and mosquitoes are the extent of my wildlife adventures. They’re all the excitement I need. I’m not afraid of snakes though, but hogs have kept me out of some creeks.

 

Then there are some of us who picked up future coprolites not realizing what they were. Thankfuly they had dried out or I was wearing gloves.

Once I even bought a pile home because I couldn’t figure out what it was. I had recently found the fossilized little crustacean burrow tailings where they make the little mound of mud balls. So I was wondering if that is what it was. It kind of looked like it. One day I was getting ready to take pics of it to post on TFF for ID when it suddenly hit me what it was. I laughed so hard I fell over. I was new on here. I just imagined posting a modern pile of dried out, eroded poo for ID. I’m sooo glad I never made that post. The pre-coprolite went in the trash.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

9 hours ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

That one cost me a truck, that one got us chased by a helicopter, 

I, for one, would like to hear these two stories.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

1 minute ago, KimTexan said:

Wild hogs, rattlesnakes, copperheads, cotton mouths, skunks and mosquitoes are the extent of my wildlife adventures. They’re all the excitement I need. I’m not afraid of snakes though, but hogs have kept me out of some creeks.

The most I’ve dealt with are tarantulas, scorpions, and rattlesnakes which leave you alone if you leave them alone. I’ve heard the hogs will give chase if they catch wind of you and have line of sight to you, is that true?

 

 

[KimTexan]

27 minutes ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

You bet if I found a Triceratops skull, a wall would be coming down in my house.

Would that be for prep or display?

The car would have to be parked out in the drive for a while while I prepped it. Then It might fit through my sunroom window if I took it out. It would have to stay in the sunroom though. 

 

I’m thinking of making my sunroom my main fossil display room. Since I’m on a low budget I’ve decided I could put in 3 or 4 10 x 12 lumber shelves there. I need something to hold those heavy ammonites I find. The brackets are more expensive than the wood.

 

[5 Humper]

Bahahah....Eureka!   I've found my people here!

[caldigger]

36 minutes ago, 5 Humper said:

Bahahah....Eureka!   I've found my people here!

They've been here all along Humper, just waiting for your arrival!

[5 Humper]

7 minutes ago, caldigger said:

They've been here all along Humper, just waiting for your arrival!

Thank y'all for taking me in!  

 

 

[Yoda]

15 hours ago, 5 Humper said:

The simplest and truest answer to this question would be:  every collection should have whatever the collector wants.   

Very true! 

 

Then my "must have" would definitely be a fossilised stingray. 

I have a big fish tank with a pair of freshwater stingrays in it. A nice piece that I could mount on the wall above the tank would be fantastic. 

[FranzBernhard]

14 hours ago, 5 Humper said:

forgot essential gear after 100 miles of driving, gritted teeth, drove back to get it, returned 100 miles at end of day for just a few moments of precious exploration, found nothing, returned home empty handed yet full of something

LOL!! This made at least my month, I think! !!

Thanks for posting this!
Franz Bernhard

[Bobby Rico]

Ok

I think this is a UK classic.

A very underrated fossil in my opinion. My case for it been a classic.

1) it is easy found or cheaply purchased.

2) It is also seen as a entry level fossil for a new collector and probably been an early addition to many collections in the UK at least. 

3) it is quite beautiful fossil  but does rarely gets prepped to a high standards .  When it does it is a stunning little fossil and a great addition to anybody’s new or  established collection.

 

Gryphea sp. aka Devil's Toenail

Dorset, UK

 

[caldigger]

                       Group hug everybody!!!!

[5 Humper]

Hi Franz...

3 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

LOL!! This made at least my month, I think! !!

Thanks for posting this!
Franz Bernhard

Glad you liked!  I didn't like it on the day of....but now I laugh frequently about it while shaking my head at myself.  Cheers

[FranzBernhard]

14 minutes ago, 5 Humper said:

I didn't like it on the day of

I think, I can understand this ...

Franz Bernhard

[5 Humper]

3 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

Ok

I think this is a UK classic.

A very underrated fossil in my opinion. My case for it been a classic.

1) it is easy found or cheaply purchased.

2) It is also seen as a entry level fossil for a new collector and probably been an early addition to many collections in the UK at least. 

3) it is quite beautiful fossil  but does rarely gets prepped to a high standards .  When it does it is a stunning little fossil and a great addition to anybody’s new or  established collection.

 

Gryphea sp. aka Devil's Toenail

Dorset, UK

Wow, Bobby, that IS a beautiful fossil (mollusk?).  Great photo of it.  I think that fossil would fit right in on the "...Fossil Couples..." thread (can't remember the whole name of it).  

[Bobby Rico]

3 minutes ago, 5 Humper said:

Wow, Bobby, that IS a beautiful fossil (mollusk?).  Great photo of it.  I think that fossil would fit right in on the "...Fossil Couples..." thread (can't remember the whole name of it).  

Thank you and  I will do that . 

[KimTexan]

14 hours ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

The most I’ve dealt with are tarantulas, scorpions, and rattlesnakes which leave you alone if you leave them alone. I’ve heard the hogs will give chase if they catch wind of you and have line of sight to you, is that true?

 

 

Generally that is not true. For the most part them seem quite timid and prefer to avoid human encounters. For a long time I avoided feeder creeks out of fear of them, but while evidence of them is abundant (fresh tracks, their odor and excrement) I haven’t seen them. I hear them, but I assume they’re headed away trying to avoid. 

I have heard of mamas being aggressive if you get between them and their babies or they feel their babies are in danger. I’ve also heard others claim they were chased by a heard of them. I’ve had very few encounters with them and none turned out bad. I think the fear of them was hyped up in my mind.

[KimTexan]

6 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

Ok

I think this is a UK classic.

A very underrated fossil in my opinion. My case for it been a classic.

1) it is easy found or cheaply purchased.

2) It is also seen as a entry level fossil for a new collector and probably been an early addition to many collections in the UK at least. 

3) it is quite beautiful fossil  but does rarely gets prepped to a high standards .  When it does it is a stunning little fossil and a great addition to anybody’s new or  established collection.

 

Gryphea sp. aka Devil's Toenail

Dorset, UK

 

Some guy posted one of those on a FB group I’m in. It was the best looking one I had ever seen. I asked how he polished it. He said he used car polish and scratch remover. Then he used car wax on it. It was a handsome specimen.

[Bobby Rico]

22 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

Some guy posted one of those on a FB group I’m in. It was the best looking one I had ever seen. I asked how he polished it. He said he used car polish and scratch remover. Then he used car wax on it. It was a handsome specimen.

Thanks Kim this is my best specimens . I also used a little of some natural beeswax  on it as I do with my ammonites. 

[siteseer]

On 1/27/2019 at 10:19 PM, FranzBernhard said:

There are many questions to this question:

- Would you like to document the evolution of life in your own collection? A special time, a special facies? Everything?

- Are you going for showy specimens only?

- What are your space restrictions?

- Would you like to specialize in a special geographic area?

- Are you more of a hunter or more of a buyer?

And many more.

Sure there are some classic extinct(!) fossil groups: Trilos, Ammos and Dinos, I think.

 

I for myself have zero desire to buy or exchange anything, I don´t even want something given to me. I exclusively self collect in my area. Sure, some Styrian Triassic ammos would be cool, but I have no desire to buy one. Maybe in the future, I will have opportunities to prospect for them myself. And if not, its also no problem.

 

Franz Bernhard

 

When I started collecting fossils I was already near graduation from college.  I'd been interested in paleontology since first grade.  It never occurred to me that people would have fossils for sale until the first time I went to a Nature Company store and a Natural Wonders store (natural history item chains in the 80's-90's) when they first opened.  I went nuts, buying a couple of Miocene shark teeth, a Cretaceous shark tooth in matrix, a baculite section, an oreodont jaw, an orthocone cephalopod (polished Moroccan one), and other specimens.  I wanted to build a sample of various groups across time (something of all the groups I read about in my "dinosaur books").  This was before I was thinking about specializing in ammonites which was before I specialized in shark teeth.  

 

I still have a sample of various groups (trilobites, brachiopods, echinoids, plants, a conodont, etc.) of all the time periods and still have a few of those ammonites I bought in my early days.  A few days ago, a friend with a fantastic collection of Cambrian-Pleistocene fossils realized he had very few Paleocene fossils so we talked about what he had and what I thought he could find.

 

I remembered looking for a "Xenusion" which was in one of my childhood books but haven't found it or even what it was.  It could be an old name of something from the late Pre-Cambrian.  I assume it's expensive now.

 

Jess