All My Fossils & Oddities (so far...)

[CryptBHR]

Hey all! I seen some member's collections and wow, you all have some awesome pieces, the type of things I hope to add to my collection someday. I've only been seriously collecting for about half a year and am still in the early process of learning about ancient life and the science surrounding it, but I wanted to post what I have thus far. About a quarter of the collection is things I collected during my childhood, but my favorite stuff is things I've found and/or bought this year, which is the majority.(after learning how to finally identify fossils a little better so I didn't think they were just rocks and move along) There's a couple more insignificant things I don't have on these shelves but it's really crowded and I need to get a larger display before I add them.

 

First pic is my display in it's entirety.

 

 

This second image is of the top shelf, there's no particular rhyme or reason yet, as in nothing is placed in any way regarding age, type, etc, I just put the stuff I like the best at the top. This is mostly dino bones, and though it looks like quite a few different fragments, most of them are from a single unidentified bone I found completely shattered after a flood a few years ago caused a cliff to crumble. (at least I assume that's why the cliff crumbled) One bivalve of some sort, dino teeth, ceratopsian bones (frill I found, rib which I bought, caudal vertebra possibly ceratopsian, thank you to the users on this forum that helped me identify the frill and vertebra as well as the tyrannosaurus tooth) and an ammonite that I found. Spinosaurus tooth, another unidentified tooth, knightia. Some of the bones in the top display haven't been cleaned and prepared as of yet.

 

 

 

The second image is just a bunch of random stuff. Shark and alligator teeth, fossil plant imprints, animals in resin, a nile croc skull, minerals, another ammonite & a trilobite, etc.

 

 

Third shelf is kind of neat, it's mostly filled with bones a customer of mine found and gave to me of very old bison that were chased off a cliff by native hunters. They were washed out of banks along the Red Deer River and aren't completely fossilized. Also some petrified wood.

 

[Praefectus]

Very nice collection. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

A nice start. 

You'll soon need a lot more shelving.

[CryptBHR]

Thank you both. And yes, I will! I plan on buying some nice glass display cabinets very soon, and then I can finally label things & display them properly. 

[Wrangellian]

Yup, this is just a start, I suspect.

I always suggest that collectors write down the location of origin (and any other pertinent info) for everything they find, and keep the label with the specimen (or do as many of us do and apply a number directly to each specimen that refers to the info you keep in a notebook). It's never too soon to start, because you can't rely on your memory after a time. I learned that the hard way.

Are those critters in resin real?

[Fossildude19]

Nice variety and display.  

 

I took the liberty of brightening your lower shelf photos.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ruger9a]

Super collection.  What animal does the claw belong to?

[CryptBHR]

5 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Yup, this is just a start, I suspect.

I always suggest that collectors write down the location of origin (and any other pertinent info) for everything they find, and keep the label with the specimen (or do as many of us do and apply a number directly to each specimen that refers to the info you keep in a notebook). It's never too soon to start, because you can't rely on your memory after a time. I learned that the hard way.

Are those critters in resin real?

 

Yes I have started to do this, some things I can’t remember because it’s been years but a notebook has been started. I’m just waiting until I get a larger area to display the collection to start adding labels. 

 

Oh and yes, the animals in resin are indeed real. 

 

1 hour ago, Ruger9a said:

Super collection.  What animal does the claw belong to?

 

The big claw lookin’ thing on the bottom? That’s a bison horn. I probably won’t keep it for long because every time I move it, it flakes pieces and makes a mess but it’s kinda cool to look at. 

[Wrangellian]

You could douse the horn in some sort of glue... The stuff most of us use is Paraloid/Acryloid a.k.a. B72, or some similar product, dissolved in acetone. It would need to be a thin solution so it will seep into the cracks and not create a glossy finish.

Superglue might work OK too as long as you're sure you won't need to undo it. The latter is much harder to remove than the former.