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Cleaning or restoring advice??


Mykalakaitlyn

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Hello hello. I'm new to this whole fossil thing! although this forum community has informed me with so much more then I could ask I still have some silly questions. Should i clean shark teeths? And how can I decide what condition my shark teeth are in? Also here are some interesting finds I found on Englewood beach, Florida. Super early on  2/20.... oh and could someone give me a run around on different colors? Like blue,orange,black, sometimes yellow. Does that go about age or shark? 

20190220_094349.jpg

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Great finds! I would love to come to Florida and find some meg teeth...

 

Teeth like those - probably just a wipe down and a light brushing with a toothbrush, as they seem pretty clean as they are. Those look slightly worn, but still very nice. 

 

I could be wrong, but I believe coloring on most fossils is more about the replacement mineral than the age of the organism when it expired. More experienced members will likely comment soon. Thanks for sharing your teeth. 

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Hello Mykalakaitlyn

 

Your fossils are nice. It doesn't look like they need a lot of cleaning. If you want, you can put them in a dilute vinegar bath to remove impurities attached to the teeth. Don't leave them in for too long. The different colors are caused by the surrounding rock that the tooth was fossilized in. Phosphate = black, limestone = white/yellow, tannins from leaves = brown/red.

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First, welcome to the forum!

 

You are in the envious position of being in a very fossiliferous part of Florida. You'll find lots of information on fossil finds near you if you search the Florida section (scroll down on the TFF home page) or search for terms like "peace river" in the search box.

 

As others have mentioned, not much cleaning is usually needed for Florida fossils. The slightly whitish haze on the megs can probably be cleaned off with an old toothbrush or other scrubby brush and some dilute acid (I like to use distilled vinegar). Rinse thoroughly after and if you'd like to darken the color and add just a bit of shine to the teeth, you can rub them with a bit of mineral oil on an old cloth. The colors are not (as noted above) particularly due to age or shark species but more about the composition of the matrix (surrounding material) that they've been buried in. South Florida is full of phosphate (and phosphate mines). This tends to turn teeth grayish to black which is a very common color for teeth found in the rivers or along the shore. Most of the fossils on the beach or found while diving snorkeling have been washed out from the mainland through the rivers. Areas with iron-rich clays tend to produce reddish-orange teeth, grayish clays tend to produce more cream colored teeth. Most of what you'll encounter in Florida will be in the gray to black hues but occasionally you'll come across some teeth (like the brown one you have) that display a more interesting coloration.

 

You might wish to join the Tampa Bay Fossil Club which is in your area. Another great place to learn about local fossils and get out on some trips as well.

 

https://www.tampabayfossilclub.com/

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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