chele Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Here is the nose section. It starts at the nasal horn and goes all the way to the beak. The tip of the nasal horn is boken off. I have the tip and I will glue it back on when I start the prep. I can not get over how nice this section is. All the nasal bones are in place. I jacketed it today along with the brow horn and a big section of the skull. Most of the skull can be reconstructed. I still have not found the other brow horn. I think I have a complete right side of the skull. I will not know until this winter when I start the prep. The two jackets I did today contain a lot of bones. I still do not know how I will get them off the cliff. Blaine said he has a plan and I am sure he will get it down safely. Chelebele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 This is an amazing find and to think it is almost on your doorstep....... I can't imagine the hours that will go into prepping this one..........hope you are keeping a log book and lots of pictures as you progress on this journey... thanks for sharing..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 What a life out there! "Me and you and the Dinos" and nothing much else but natural surroundings and a humble hacienda. Talk about pioneering! It's good to hear you've got expert advice, so you obviously know what you're doing. I'd be a little nervous about making a wrong move on such a dig, but of course I've got no such experience whatsoever in that regard. Looking forward to the continuations anyway. I guess this is all gonna take a while before all is said and done. Have fun with it until then and be proud of your achievement. Even if you aren't allowed to keep it, it should keep you in butter for a while! By the way, how did your Dr.'s appointment go on that fateful Thursday? Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 beautiful!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chele Posted June 5, 2012 Author Share Posted June 5, 2012 Blaine had gone up to the site to cover up the jackets but a big thunder head blew through. I do not know how he got them from the cliff to his pickup. He got them out and into the shop just before the rain started. The big one weighs about 350 to 400 pounds. It has the brow horn, skull parts and various other bones. I can not wait to cut the big one open. It kind of feels like Christmas, I know what one of my presents is, but I have to see the rest when I unwrap them! Chelebele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xonenine Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Here is the nose section. It starts at the nasal horn and goes all the way to the beak. The tip of the nasal horn is boken off. I have the tip and I will glue it back on when I start the prep. I can not get over how nice this section is. All the nasal bones are in place. I jacketed it today along with the brow horn and a big section of the skull. Most of the skull can be reconstructed. I still have not found the other brow horn. I think I have a complete right side of the skull. I will not know until this winter when I start the prep. The two jackets I did today contain a lot of bones. I still do not know how I will get them off the cliff. Blaine said he has a plan and I am sure he will get it down safely. this might be the first thing to ever make me look forward to winter "Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile." Lepidus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sue in ohio Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Oh Chele..I'm so jealous and so very happy for you girl!! What an exciting find!! I so hoped I'd uncover one when I was on a weeklong dino dig out there in 2001. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Wow, I will be following this thread closely. Congrats on the awesome find! -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Wow, what an adventure. You seem to be on quite the learning curve, too. Properly excavating a dinosaur is a very long way from picking up interesting rocks down by the river. Blaine seems to be an exceptionally good sport, not many spouses would do so much to help their SO's paleo-addiction. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acryzona Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Congratulations Chele! I first learned about your awesome find on VFOTM and chuckled when I read "I'd like to enter my Triceratops" Please keep us updated with your finds and progress. While you may have to sell it, it sounds like the landowner gave you generous terms and you'll have a great story and memories for a lifetime. Good luck! Collecting Microfossils - a hobby concerning much about many of the little paraphrased from Dr. Robert Kesling's book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chele Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 (edited) Wow, what an adventure. You seem to be on quite the learning curve, too. Properly excavating a dinosaur is a very long way from picking up interesting rocks down by the river. Blaine seems to be an exceptionally good sport, not many spouses would do so much to help their SO's paleo-addiction. Don Thank you Don! Blaine supports my addiction . When he is out and about on the 4 wheeler working cattle he always looks for interesting sites for me. I never go out alone ever since I almost stepped on a rattle snake. Not only that, I am afraid I will get lost. This ranch is huge and it is so easy to get turned around in the breaks. The country is very rough and I just feel better when Blaine is there with me. So we go out every sunday(the only day he gets off). we head out bright and early. The other reason I like Blaine to go is that he is braver than I. He will take the pickup or 4 wheeler where I never would. He never even complained when he brought the big jacketed fossil down off the cliff. I still can not believe he got it down in one piece without breaking the fossil or himself! The other really cool thing is that I am close to professionals. So if I have any questions or need advice I can call them. Edited June 6, 2012 by chele Chelebele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chele Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Congratulations Chele! I first learned about your awesome find on VFOTM and chuckled when I read "I'd like to enter my Triceratops" Please keep us updated with your finds and progress. While you may have to sell it, it sounds like the landowner gave you generous terms and you'll have a great story and memories for a lifetime. Good luck! If I had the money I would just pay them the 30% and keep it. Blaine and I have a long way to go on the digging. We have to remove a lot of dirt. The worst part is a buch of massive boulders that sit on top of the dirt. There is no way to get a tractor or skid steer to the site. Chelebele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleecan Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Excellent find!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik m Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Wow great vindt hope that you can get it al out of the dirt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyWahine Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Wow... I am so excited for you! I am also enjoying following your feed & adventure. Congratulations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vordigern Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I have to admit, everytime I check the forum to see the new posts and I see "I Found A Triceratops!" it makes me smile I mean how many people will ever be able to make a post like that, incredible!!! thanks for keeping us updated on your progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chele Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 Thanks to all for the kind comments! I have cut open the nose section and started working on cleaning it. I started on the bottom portion because I did not see what it looked like. I have most of the mud off and a nice black/brown color is present. Some of the smaller bones are broken from being compressed in the ground. Once I have the backside cleaned I will start glueing the damaged pieces back together. Once cleaned and the cracks glued and the bone is nice and strong I will remove the rest of the jacket. The texture is amazing on the bones. What a difference once cleaned. The photos I posted just show a pasty shape. Once cleaned you will not know it is the same thing! Cleaning is a very tedious task. Some of the bone shatters when touched with a brush. Fortunately I have a lot of Starbond glue. I use the EM-02 which is very thin and penetrates the finest cracks. It sets in seconds and after a few minutes it is hard as a rock! Caution when using this glue, a little bit goes a long way. When I first used it I put to much on a bone I was holding. The glue ran through the cracks and onto my fingers! I was able to remove the bone from my hand before the glue set. Unfortunately three of my fingers were glued together and I had to use acetone to dissolve the glue. Chelebele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down under fossil hunter Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Chele, I don't think I can say anything that the other members have not but will give it a go anyway. That is the most amazing, spectacularly impressive fossil I have seen on this forum to date! The exhilaration you must have felt when it dawned on you what you had discovered would have been overwhelming! Fantastic work and I will be awaiting your next post with much anticipation! P.s. If there is a fossil of the year award you got my vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beckyb Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 maybe you can get a copy made. not sure how much that would cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Have to add my voice to the Congratulations, Chele! I thought the same as Vordigern said at the top of this page. "I found a Triceratops". I gather this thing is worth over $4000? Maybe that's not a lot for a dino.. How complete does it seem to be? The owners did seem to give you a good deal even if you can't find the money to buy out the 30%, but at least you get the feather in your cap - and your name on it as the discoverer(s)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hokiehunter Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Awesome find! Congrats. I think aside from finding a T-Rex skull you just hit on what would be the holy grail of fossils for most of us. Can you do me a favor though in future posts and describe them a little better as to exactly what we are looking at in terms of the orientation of the bones. (i.e. photo x shows the brow horn with the base in the bottom left etc...) . At some point in your prep it will become obvious but for dino newbie like me it is hard to tell what I am looking at sometimes especially the insitu stuff. Congrats again and as someone else already said... this is the kind of discovery that keeps me coming back to this site over and over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 WOW!!!! I jealous. Great find. I am curious though what something like this might sell for? A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opisthotriton Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Fantastic! I knew it wouldn't take you long to find one Since you'll obviously be spending lots of time hiking around in rattlesnake territory, you might want to buy a pair of snake gaiters. You can get a good pair for $50 or $60, and they last pretty much forever. They're not just for snake protection; they're also great for keeping you from getting poked by yucca or cactus, and then when you find a site you can take them off and kneel or sit on them for a little comfort. I love my snake gaiters for the peace of mind and their multi-purpose uses. Here are some examples, you can search around for more. If you're short the men's size might be too tall for you; there are some that you can fold the top down to fit. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00542NIVM/ref=asc_df_B00542NIVM2053789/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B00542NIVM&linkCode=asn&hvpos=1o5&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11721152631939538668&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt= http://www.cabelas.com/mens-snake-protection-clothing-whitewater-snakeproof-gaiters-1.shtml?WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=943390055&rid=40&mr:trackingCode=89FC5C33-6F6C-E111-88CA-001B21631C34&mr:referralID=NA&mr:adType=pla Enjoy your great discovery! You're doing a great job so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down under fossil hunter Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Since a few people have been asking about the price of Chele's Triceratops and throwing a few guesses around it might be worth checking out Merv at Indiana9's Triceratops skull 75% complete for the low low price of $235,000. So depending on the condition and completeness of this specimen fully prepped and mounted I would guess close to 1 million!!!!! Now to find a buyer. Either way I think Chele will be good for a loan. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Congrats! How do you decide how much to charge for your triceratops? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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