Mazon Creek Collection- Purchased

[Nimravis]

For the Mazon Creek collectors on the Forum that have been out collecting within the last 10-15 years, you know you will come across an open concretion that has a white coating, looks like someone caked it in paint. I always have picked them up to clean it when I got home, but it was usually nothing.

 

Now go back in time when concretions were everywhere and you find the same type of concretion. I put one of those that were in the this collection into a little vinegar last night to get it off and this one contained something, a beautiful Gilpicthys greenei Fish. How different it was collecting back in the 70’s, and it was waiting this long to be cleaned.

 

[Mark Kmiecik]

Some very nice flora for Pit 11, although I heard from others that the NE section of Pit 11 had some very nice flora way back in the day.

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

Some very nice flora for Pit 11, although I heard from others that the NE section of Pit 11 had some very nice flora way back in the day.

Sorry the pics were dark on those pieces.

[jdp]

17 hours ago, stats said:

I was talking to Jason and he thinks there are a few types of blades.  Jack has the same opinion.  I believe Tom Testa noticed it and had different names for each of the forms.

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

 

Yep, there are definitely a lot of things hiding out pretending to be "blades." Tetrapods, lobe-finned fish, even some sarcopterygians. I've definitely seen an iniopterygian hiding out in a collection pretending to be a blade. This one looks tetrapod-y to me, but I'd need to look at it under a microscope to draw some strong conclusions. Regardless, this is probably scientifically important and I'd love to meet up and look at this sometime. I'd also love to see some of these Mazonova eggs.

[Nimravis]

1 hour ago, jdp said:

 

Yep, there are definitely a lot of things hiding out pretending to be "blades." Tetrapods, lobe-finned fish, even some sarcopterygians. I've definitely seen an iniopterygian hiding out in a collection pretending to be a blade. This one looks tetrapod-y to me, but I'd need to look at it under a microscope to draw some strong conclusions. Regardless, this is probably scientifically important and I'd love to meet up and look at this sometime. I'd also love to see some of these Mazonova eggs.

Thanks- We will see if that can be arranged.

[Nimravis]

@Mark Kmiecik Mark I re-shot these pics for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jdp]

3 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Thanks- We will see if that can be arranged.

Great! You should have my email, but if not, send me a DM and I can give it to you there!

[PR0GRAM]

This is such an amazing collection! As someone who only has 5-6 partial Tully fossils from Mazon this is amazing! If you’ll excuse my crudeness this is straight up fossil porn! Thank you so much for sharing, wow!

[Nimravis]

@Mark Kmiecik I notice a tip of a concretion that looked familiar to a fern that I just posted. I took the tip outside and gave the tip of the concretion a whack and this is the result, not bad.

 

 

 

 

 

[Nimravis]

Here are a couple more nice pieces-

 

Mazohydra megabertha- Hydroid

 

 

 

 

Esconichthys apopyris- Blades

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glaphurochiton concinnus- Chiton

 

 

 

I am wondering about this worm. When I look at it, it reminds me of a Rat, but I do not think it is the Rat Worm Dryptoscolex mattiesae. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Fastuoscolex gemmanatus-

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Nimravis

[Mark Kmiecik]

3 hours ago, Nimravis said:

This is interesting. Thanks for the new photos.

[Mark Kmiecik]

1 hour ago, Nimravis said:

Don't you just love it!!!! A plan that works great without any planning. Almost 8 inches?

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Mark Kmiecik
fix typo

[Mark Kmiecik]

41 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

I checked Jack's fauna book. Don't see anything I could definitely say this one looks like.

[RCFossils]

47 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

Here are a couple more nice pieces-

 

Mazohydra megabertha- Hydroid

 

 

 

 

Esconichthys apopyris- Blades

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glaphurochiton concinnus- Chiton

 

 

 

I am wondering about this worm. When I look at it, it reminds me of a Rat, but I do not think it is the Rat Worm Dryptoscolex mattiesae. Any help would be appreciated.

 

This looks to me like Fastuoscolex gemmanatus.

 

[Nimravis]

5 minutes ago, RCFossils said:

This looks to me like Fastuoscolex gemmanatus.

 

Rob, I am not familiar with that name, what is it?

 

sorry- now I know which one you are talking about.

 

Also, I am bad with the shrimp, a couple species all look the same to me, I am going to post 2 now, could you please let me know if I am close 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Nimravis

[Nimravis]

Coprinoscolex ellogimus- Leech

 

 

Fossundecima konecniorum- Simple Jaw Worm

 

Dasyleptus- Monuran

 

 

Kallidecthes richardsoni- Shrimp (?)

 

 

 

 

Lobetelson mclaughlinae- Shrimp (?)

 

 

 

 

[stats]

Wow!  Those are some awesome fossils!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

[Nimravis]

A couple more for tonight-

 

Convexicaris mazonensis- Flea Shrimp

 

 

 

 

Gerarus (?)

 

 

 

Winged Insect-

 

 

 

 

 

[siteseer]

Wow.  Great stuff.  Congratulations, Ralph.  The Bandringa is fantastic and the fishes are so clean.  I've seen some faint ones in the past.  Those look like a couple of nice spiders too.

 

Back in the mid-90's, there was a Mazon Creek collector who lived in Arizona and one of my friends met him.  The guy ended up selling the plant part of his collection to him.  A number of the nodules were several inches long.  My friend was a fossil dealer and he put them out for sale at the next show he did (Hollywood, CA) and he sold every one he put out.  He realized he was selling too cheap.  He showed them to me before he went to his next show and I advised him to keep at least one because no one was finding nodules that big anymore.  I pointed out the one he should keep - nodule was maybe 9 inches long and had a fern frond criss-crossing another frond - beautiful split pair.  I hadn't seen that before.  He eventually sold them all except for that.  He would have given me one if I had asked but I didn't.  I don't know if his widow still has it. 

[Nimravis]

4 hours ago, siteseer said:

Wow.  Great stuff.  Congratulations, Ralph.  The Bandringa is fantastic and the fishes are so clean.  I've seen some faint ones in the past.  Those look like a couple of nice spiders too.

 

Back in the mid-90's, there was a Mazon Creek collector who lived in Arizona and one of my friends met him.  The guy ended up selling the plant part of his collection to him.  A number of the nodules were several inches long.  My friend was a fossil dealer and he put them out for sale at the next show he did (Hollywood, CA) and he sold every one he put out.  He realized he was selling too cheap.  He showed them to me before he went to his next show and I advised him to keep at least one because no one was finding nodules that big anymore.  I pointed out the one he should keep - nodule was maybe 9 inches long and had a fern frond criss-crossing another frond - beautiful split pair.  I hadn't seen that before.  He eventually sold them all except for that.  He would have given me one if I had asked but I didn't.  I don't know if his widow still has it. 

Thanks- And Mazon Creek fauna pieces are cool, but there is nothing like a large, complete fern, those are beautiful.

[Nimravis]

This 1/2, of a not complete Coelacanth, Rhabdoderma exiguum, is a perfect example of how many collectors were back in the day. If they found opened or whacked open, a concretion, and the fossil was not complete or to the quality that they wanted, they would just throw it down and let someone else take it. Here is one that Bob found that way and took, you can see that it was hammered.  
 

 

 

 

You will also see that there is a white substance on the back of the fossil. This is the result of using a floral mount big type of tape. Many collectors, including myself in the beginning, used this to mount fossils to cardboard stock for display. I learned of it from my fossil mentor, Walter, but I later switched to White School Glue, which was cheaper and easier to use and remove, I later got Walter and Bob to switch. One of the processes that I am going through right now is removing that tape from some of the fossils that were mounted that way. Luckily , most are glued or rubber banded together.

Edited July 12, 2022 by Nimravis

[Mark Kmiecik]

2 hours ago, Nimravis said:

One of the processes that I am going through right now is removing that tape from some of the fossils that were mounted that way. Luckily , most are glued or rubber banded together.

And I sincerely hope you are putting some tissue or thin foam between the halves when you put them together so they don't abrade each other.

 

This collection is one of the best I have ever seen and am truly looking forward to seeing the rest of it, including the less dramatic material. Keep it comin', Ralph.

[Nimravis]

Here is a nice 3” Annularia leaf whorl that I came across. I can tell by the writing, that Bob received this from Walter.

 

 

 

Here are a couple bi-valves.

 

Myalinella meeki-

 

 

Mazonomya mazonensis-

 

 

Dunbarella striata-

 

 

I am not positive on these fossils, but I am thinking, Palaeolima retifera-

 

 

Nice 3D piece.

 

 

 

 

[Nimravis]

12 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

And I sincerely hope you are putting some tissue or thin foam between the halves when you put them together so they don't abrade each other.

 

This collection is one of the best I have ever seen and am truly looking forward to seeing the rest of it, including the less dramatic material. Keep it comin', Ralph.

Thanks Mark and yes, here is a couple pics of my process, it is time consuming, but worth it. Now I must preface this by stating I do not do it with all of my MC stuff. I would not do it with the Myalinella and Mazonomya in the last post.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Nimravis

[Tidgy's Dad]

Love the flea shrimp and the Oliver Hardy! 

The jaw-droppers just keep on coming. 

Like a really good Christmas that just won't stop....................