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Rating specimens


Bob Saunders

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Hello, in my free mineral collection data base it asks if you want to give a rating. 1 poor-5 fine condition. Is their a similar data base for fossils? and an accepted listing of condition or grade. Like an paleontology Association standard of grading. Thanks Bob

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I haven't heard of any standardized rating systems for fossils. One could say a fossil is complete, well-articulated, well-preserved, or poorly preserved, abraded, exfoliated, pitted, worn, fragmentary, etc.

 

Most rating systems are to give guidance on buy/sell values that makes more sense for coins, stamps, comics, collectible cards, and other items that are mass manufactured and can be compared against a "mint" condition.

 

In the scientific literature, there are no such ratings. Systematic palaeontology opts for clear descriptions of, say, a holotype specimen. A description has much more scientific value than a ranking or rating system. 

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Like Kane, I have never heard of such a rating system for fossils. It would only have possible commercial utility, nothing scientific.  Commercial dealers will sometimes apply terms such as "museum grade", "collector grade", or "study grade" to indicate some combination of rarity and completeness/degree of repair, but such terms are little more than a marketing scheme to induce people to part with more money.

 

Don

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brandtDawesome!!2.jpg

 

(although I fully realize this is not exactly what you mean....)

Bob,you obviously want to display /and/or retrieve data about your fossils and minerals.

What's the thought behind that?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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"Bob,you obviously want to display /and/or retrieve data about your fossils and minerals.

What's the thought behind that?"

 

I came across a substantial collection at a barn sale. She said her mother passed some years ago and did not keep a journal or notes. only 3-4 items were marked like the price, what it was, "Black Cobra" what is that? I think I did find one mention of it. and an envelope marked and gift of my mail man found in the driveway. Many were fairly easy to I'd but others I may never know. 

 

Basically I have not seen anything as for fossils rated. I am a hobbyist at best. learning a lot. Looking at items for sale at rock shows it is obvious many have been well worked to extract matrix or bring the fossil out. as for grading items, like sports cards, any slight bend or tare on a rare card makes big differences. Coins, wear, scratches V's mint makes a big difference to serious collectors. I'm a long time model train collector. The TCA has a published set of guide lines for paper, boxes, restorations and repainting etc.  I do not know how this all effects fossil prices or collect-ability? 

 I'm working on entering as much information as I can on where found, or purchased. Item number, usually the weight in grams and dimensions, in CM, or MM sometimes in inches if large. On MS word, labels, sometimes index cards in a file box. Due to the ever possibles hard drive failure, fire, etc., I sometimes make a back up CD and store off site. 

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15 minutes ago, Bob Saunders said:

 I do not know how this all effects fossil prices or collect-ability? 

 

There are many factors that sellers may use to price their specimens such as perceived scarcity, demand, difficulty in preparation, size, and to some degree condition (in terms of being able to make out diagnostic details clearly). There may also be the broader market forces in fossils that seem to congregate around price ranges due to past precedent and what the market will bear. However, much of what you see in terms of pricing is fairly subjective. Again, unlike sports cards, coins, and other items that are mass manufactured for which there can be a standard, the wide variation in specimens of a single species somewhat frustrates creating such a standard. 

 

It is good that you are keeping detailed records of your fossils. Should they change hands for whatever reason in the future, provenance is vital. I would recommend not swapping between metric and imperial despite the size of the specimen -- keep it consistently one or the other. Also, I would argue that weight is not an important criteria for cataloguing fossils.

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Bob,trade in fossils,art,stamps,(collectibles in general?)like Kane says,can be characterized as volatile/chaotic markets.

These are non-renewable resources with possibly aberrant economics/laws of supply and demand.

 

 

 

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As others have stated, there is no universal standardized rating system that I am aware of. However, if you are using a cataloguing system such as the one you described for minerals, and it has a place for ratings, you could give your own personal rating. Doing so may give you another way to keep track of specimens by quality.

 

Some of us like to focus on collecting a specific type of fossil (trilobite, brachiopod, shark teeth, etc.) and still others like to collect specific species from these broader types, such as Megalodon teeth (using shark teeth as an example). You could use your personal rating to compare a newly procured specimen with your others to quickly see if it is your new “best” specimen and therefore worthy of display, or if someone wanted to see a specific type of fossil, you could look up and bring out your best one to show. 
 

Since the rating is a personal one, your meaning of “best” could include any number of factors. Such as size, diagnostic detail, weathering condition, etc. 

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Thanks for the replies, as for weight many gem and minerals collectors do use weight in grams, and the free mineral data base has a place to it. since I have several types of scales, analog and digital I got accustom to doing it. I agree in not for fossils or shark teeth. I also have around 7 microscopes. 

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I have a "Notes" field in my catalog database and I often include things like: complete specimen, diagnostic fragment only, small, medium or large specimen, etc.  But it is subjective and only for my own benefit. Later if someone acquires my collection and wants to pull the best stuff they could search that field for all listed as "complete."

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

I agree with @Bob Saunders that it might be worth coming up with some sort of general rating system that could provide a quasi-standardized measurement of quality.  I have started a separate post here with a proposal for a rating methodology.  I'd welcome any comments.

 

 

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