LordTrilobite Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 About a month ago I saw this really nice mosasaur dentary fragment up for sale. So of course I bought it immediately as I couldn't pass up such a nice piece. So I proceded to prep it as there was a lot of matrix everywhere. It soon became clear that there was more than just the one intact tooth and one broken tooth base. Two roots with some tooth remnants had partially slid out from the jaw prior to fossilisation and were initially hidden from view. Since the jaw was sticking out a lot on the bottom I made the choice to completely remove the jaw from the matrix. the other side turn out really nice. Though as I found out, not only had the roots slid out, part of the front of the jaw was a bit of a jumbled mess. In the matrix what I found what I initially thought was a vertebra turned out to be a really weird shaped bone. I'm still not sure what to make of this little bone. With the front of the jaw in pieces, I chose to remove every piece so I could piece the jaw back together the way it should be. Especially the roots that were still partially inside the jaw were tricked to get out. But In the end I was able to get all five pieces removed without doing any damage. Two roots, two pieces of jaw on the outside and one piece between the roots. I then proceded to put everything back in place. Thankfully there were enough places that still had a close fit so I could accurately put them in the right position. Though overtime this jaw has overgone some distortion so it's not a 100%. But I managed to get it pretty close to what it should be. I thought it turned out quite nice. With prepping done, I made some nice pictures and posted it in the gallery thinking I was done with this piece... 1 Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 (edited) But that's not the end of the story! About a week ago, again, I was browsing on the internet for some nice sales. And I found another nice piece of unprepped mosasaur jaw. Upon looking more closely I thought it looked almost too similar to my first jaw piece. Same seller, same bone and matrix colour, roughly the same size. So obviously I thought that no way is my luck this good. So I downloaded the pictures. I overlayed the photos I took of my already prepped jaw. Low and behold, it seemed to fit together. Wasting no time, I bought this piece as well. When it arrived, I was over the moon. It fit like a glove. These two pieces were definitely from the same animal! So then I started to prep this piece. On this part there was some destortion and breakage. I removed the part that was at an angle like I did with the roots in front on the previous piece so that I could set it back in place. And so, the result is a really nice partial right dentary of a mosasaur. I couldn't be happier with the result. Now to make a nice stand for it... Edited August 12, 2015 by LordTrilobite 1 Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 A remarkable piece, and a terrific job bringing it to light! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Well done - and well spotted! Terrific story and fossil! Thanks for posting it! Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkinhead Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foshunter Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Nice prep and reconstruction---Tom Grow Old Kicking And Screaming !!"Don't Tread On Me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Nice job! http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snolly50 Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Excellent result and an interesting account. Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoWilliam Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lmshoemaker Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Holy cow, great story and prep. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZiggieCie Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Excellent, Excellent, Excellent, what else can be said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 That is awesome!!! Nice work Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DinoMike Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 That is a great piece, and an awesome story of luck & dedication! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Well seen!! I've managed going back to a site and finding the rest of a fossil a couple of weeks later, but doing that on eBay is a real novelty!! Great prep too! And a wonderful addition to your collection! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 Thanks for the positive comments everyone. It actually wasn't Ebay, but a dutch auction site. But still, I was quite lucky indeed. Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 That is quite an adventure! Your gallery photo is fantastic. "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Love the pictorial story....... you have a really nice piece there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 That is a wonderful piece and story! Great job prepping it. ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triceratops Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 A cool story, and a great prep job! -Lyall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Yes, quite the story and nice job. R B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted June 3, 2016 Author Share Posted June 3, 2016 A small update on this piece. It's been a while since I prepped it. Now I've also scanned it. Which was quite difficult because of all the little details. Besides scanning the actual fossil. I've also done some more digital prepping and reconstructing. One scan is the original fossil as it is, while the other has some reconstructed parts. I've straigthened the one complete tooth. Then I reconstructed the missing teeth based on that one tooth and the unerupted teeth elsewhere in the jaw. With one side repaired, I mirrored it to create the left side as well. Roughly one third of the dentary is still missing, which I did not try to reconstruct. 1 Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Is the reconstructon only virtual, or did you make a 3D print? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted June 3, 2016 Author Share Posted June 3, 2016 The reconstruction is only digital. The first one is what the fossil actually looks like right now. Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossisle Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 A work of art!! Cephalopods rule!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Very nice prep and fossil. Neet that You found both halfs of it. Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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