More unidentified MC fossils

[Sizev_McJol]

So we have yet another unidentified mazon creek fossil. I see two possible specimens here but I’m not convinced either are proper fossils or even what they could be. The larger one looks like wood to me, and the smaller one looks darker and oddly shaped. I first thought maybe a flat worn?  

[JohnBrewer]

Ralph? @Nimravis

[bigred97]

It's a little hard to see from these pictures, but honestly I'm not seeing much that I would say is a fossil. I could potentially see there being some type of plant material as you suggested. I would need a little closer look, though, to be sure.

The second one I think is probably just how the concretion opened, but it's hard to tell sometimes. In my opinion, I'm not seeing a worm, but I wouldn't throw this away in case someone with more experience sees something I don't.

When I started collecting Mazon Creek a year and a half ago, I had concretions open and I would look over every inch of them with my loupe hoping to see something that could be a fossil. I put any ones that I couldn't really tell on a shelf. I just went back to that shelf and looked at them again, and threw them all out. This looks like it could possibly have fit into that category for me, although there is a difference to seeing a photo and holding it in your hand, and I could be missing something.

It's such a nice shape and size - I hope someone follows me and tells you I'm wrong! Chris

[Mark Kmiecik]

I believe this is a duplicate post. I've seen this specimen posted elsewhere with much more discussion, just can't remember where.

[TheRocksWillShoutHisGlory]

The large piece does appear to be wood, maybe calamites.  The smaller image is too hard to tell, kind of has the general shape of Fossundecima or Mazopherusa but nothing definitive just speculative.  

 

There are a lot of concretions where it is hard to tell what it is or if it's anything.  I've always been on the side of keeping them in mind just in case.  As long as you're not selling it and defrauding anyone there's no harm keeping something you aren't sure of, but it's a shame if you throw away preserved life, much less anything rare. 

 

I've heard of people finding fish fossils in throw away piles, and I personally realized something I assumed was a worm that I found my first year collecting was actually a larval fish with the yolk sac.  I've also had people on here tell me a tetrapod was not a fossil, that a lungfish was algea, and that a eurypterid was plant material only to later contact professionals and be confirmed.  So I'd just say judge for yourself the trade-offs of what to think about speculative pieces.