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This is my first self prepped find that has come out looking good. I keep practising but i'm quite proud of this ammonite During prep After. It just needs coating and it's finished. The otherside split perfectly by the way so no prep was needed.

Hi I have a question regarding storing and safely displaying a pyrite fossil. I have read a great deal about pyrite disease so I know that's something to be carefull of and I have read you best keep them away from humid and store them in an air-sealed container. And now that's where I am heading with this question, what is all considered as a possible air-sealed container? I am currently keeping my pyrite ammonite (Pleuroceras Spinatum from Buttenheim in Germany) in a small transparent box as seen in the photo below, but is this good enough? Is this air-tight and will this protect the fossil from possibly falling victim to pyrite disease? Or do you guys recommend other ways to display it? Safer ways... Than the second part of my question... Some might already read that I am currently working on a new fossil room, and since it's nearly finished I was wondering wether it was safe to house pyrite fossils in said room when I take some precautions. Cause along with my fossils the room will contain 2 aquaria: one freshwater aquarium with my Polypterus retropinnis, and one brackish water with my Gymnothorax tile. (Also before transforming into a fossil room this room used to be one of the 2 aquarium/terrarium rooms in the house and it contained at one point 12 aquaria and we never really experienced problems with moisture.) As precautious measure I was planning to add a small dehumidifier just to be safe, but so my second question. Would it be wise to house a pyrite fossil in an air-tight container in this room even if it has a dehumidifier in it? And should you also recommend me to preserve the fossil in some paraloid on the fossil, I still have a bottle with 100 ml of paraloid. I would like to hear your opinions on the matter. Which container to use? To preserve it with Paraloid or not? And if I can move it the to new fossil room or if I should leave it in my old display case in my living room? Thank you in advance!

Hello, While on a trip through Yellowstone country with the family last summer we stopped at fossil/rock shop in West Yellowstone and my son became interested in fossils. Fast forward to today I happened upon several "fossils" for sale semi-locally but on-line. I think my son would love to have them for his birthday, but it would be a fair drive to check them out in person, so before doing that, or buying them on faith I was hoping perhaps someone from this forum could take a look at the pics and give me your assessment of the potential authenticity. Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge and passion with me. I love people who love their hobbies, and enjoy sharing knowledge.

I found this ammonite on Saturday. It is the best Trachyscaphites springer I have ever found. I think it is a T. springer. I assume the other ones I have are males and maybe this one is a female. I don't know much about sexual dimorphism in this genus, but it does exist. When they say there is dimorphism is the female is bigger? It is so very different from any of the others I have. I know there is another species of Trachyscaphites in the NSR, but I don't know what it looks like. I really like this one though. It is free standing too! Bonus. It has some damage on the dorsal venter and the aperture. It also had some pyrite on the umbilicus area (I can’t really see an overt umbilicus since it is so involuted). My prep work is still very crude. There is so much I need to learn. I just keep at it and learn by trial and error though. I don’t have pneumatic tools. Here it is. See the white film on the right half? The white on the left half is nacre, but some of it has the film on it too. This is from the red zone of the Ozan formation, Cretaceous. I doubt it matters, but I am wondering if the film layer is pyrite in nature or gypsum or something else. I have specimens from the Britton formation of the Eagle Ford group, which have a gypsum film on them and this looks a bit little that. But that isn't my main question. It is just a curiosity. This is the other side. You can see some pyrite at the bottom left along the umbilicus grove. I have a number of these, but this is the first where I can actually see suture lines mostly at 11 to 12 o'clock down the midline and on the right. I am going to tag @Ptychodus04 and @RJB on this. I don't know if Ron is familiar with fossils of this matrial and matrix, but I imagine he is. I am pretty sure Kris is. Questions The film issue 1. Do you think I should attempt to remove the film? I think I should. See the tubercle by my thumb in pic 2? There was a tiny fleck of white showing so I chipped away at the red clay and revealed more nacre under it. So I believe there is still nacre under some of it on the left 2. What is the best way to go about removing it? I was thinking of using sandpaper, but I don't have much experience using sandpaper on fossils. I have a range of grit up to 3000 (or is it down to since the grit is smaller and finer?) The nose issue I am calling it the nose since it looks like a little nose. It seems to be the first part of the first visible whorl. 3. Any advice as to what to do with this part. I am not sure what to do with it. At times I prep haphazardly and then I think I have damaged it and I get paralysis of analysis and that is where I am on the nose. I have removed some matrix from the top, left and right. I think I might have gone down into the nose on the right side some. It is hard to tell where the matrix ends and fossil begins. These are other views of the nose. The lines on the nose are from me scraping away, thinking I was on top of ribs. I am not sure if there are ribs there yet. Like I said my prep skills are pretty crude still. The other side of it. I still have some matrix to removed on the side there. I think part of it is chipped away, but I am not totally sure how it is supposed to look. Maybe it got crushed. It just looks odd to me. I have several other of this species, but I think they may all be males or something. They are more open, the whorl does not cover the umbilicus and they are much flatter and smaller. The pyrite issue. I know I have asked these types of questions before about prep so sorry for the repeat. 4. What is the best way to address the pyrite to keep it from coming back? I have scraped most of it off already. I have heard people say to soak it in Iron Out and I have that. But I am concerned it may hurt the fossil. I guess I could experiment on other concretions I have that look like the same, but are rock and not fossil. 5. What should I do as far as long term preservation to slow the progress of pyrite disease? I think someone recommended Butvar. I looked into buying it, but I got sidetracked by trying to figure out which was best. Then couldn't find what was best and kind of forgot about buying again. 6. What is the best Butvar or product to use for sealing it? I looked at buying some on different sites. Paying so much for shipping irks me. I am spoiled with Amazon Prime and just don't think about shipping costs. I have a buddy who works at Eastman. I asked him if they had a store where individuals could purchase products like Butvar 76. He said no, but he would see if he could go ask for a sample The museum supply site. It has Butvar-80 for $34 for 1 kg and $15.53 for shipping. I don’t need 1 kg. Talas has Butvar-76 500 g for $17.50, but then is charging $14.64 for shipping! I have seen people reference McGean-15 or Vinac and they seemed to prefer it over Butvar. 7. Can anyone tell me the molecular weight of the Vinac or what grade of polyvinyl acetate Vinac is? I think my buddy could come up with that for me more easily since I think he manages production of a form of it. I found something called Vinapas. I have not looked at the shipping on this site. Here: http://www.conservationresources.com/Main/section_37/section37_08.htm PVA Resin Solid Vinapas This consolidant is a polyvinyl acetate solid suspended in granular form, with a molecular weight averaging 51,000 and a melting point of 50 C. It is used as a consolidantfor porous, dry, non-metal objects-particularly those found in digs. This is typically applied in concentrations of 20-25% I.M.S. with a soft brush. It may also be used as an isolating varnish and thermoplastic adhesive. Item # Description Price SY01 Vinapas, 1 kg. $22.00

Creek was a little flooded today made it harder to navigate, started the day with 2 dead drill battery's that I had charged the night before so I decided to move father up to look at some different exposures, started by picking up some matrix for micro's from the bottom of the pecan gap, more on that later, and then some Del Rio clay for the same, (if someone has suggestions for how to wash this faster that would be great) spent the next 2 hours picking up heteromorph mariellas.

I have been mostly caving in Colombia but stopped on a mountain creek to mess around for about 20mins. I need to get more pics of our haul but this is pretty cool (or I think so)