My Ever-Growing Collection

[Prehistoria]

Hey everyone! My collection is just beginning (and most of my samples are just neat crinoid stems and other common Ordovician specimens) but I have recently gotten into the trade pretty heavy and have started scooping up stuff from the collections of my friends.

Here are a few you guys may like:

Cave Bear snout fragment (Ursus spelaeus)

40,000 years old (Pleistocene)

Found in Transylvania, Romania.

Colonial Rugose Coral (Michelinia conversa)

Devonian

I found this in a rockpile in Hanover, Ontario.

Fossil Larvae Plate w/Horsetails- 21"x20"

50 million years old (Eocene)

Found in Green River formation, Wyoming.

Neanderthal Butchering Axe

Mousterian culture, France

80,000-40,000 years old

Middle Paleolithic Period

I also have a 30" x 28" plate of a dozen diplomystus from Green River but the lighting is too poor to snap a good photo. Perhaps later!

[Auspex]

Something for everyone; very nice!

[sward]

Welcome from Texas.

Nice collection to start. Are these all found by yourself or are some purchased/traded?

I saw your other post about the unknown skull as well.

It looks like you're off to a good start. Keep us posted on your exploits and show us your finds. We always like to see other people's collections.

[Prehistoria]

My collection is largely stuff I have bartered and bought, except for the rugose coral and a bunch of smaller Ordovician odds and ends. I have spent the majority of my life in Toronto, Ontario so the quality and quantity of stuff is pretty limited. Glaciers stripped everything away between 400 myo to 135,000 years old here, but since I was a kid I have put aside a bunch of brachiopods, crinoid stems, and small corals.. nothing fancy really. All of my crazier pieces were acquired over the last 3 months, most of which from the personal collection of my supplier.

He also sold me a nice beetle from his La Brea Tar Pit collection, but I forgot it at his place on my last visit.

I am having a real hard time IDing that skull. I know it is worth grabbing if it is this hard to track down, but would love to know what it is! I emailed Xiaoming Wang, co-author of Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History, so hopefully he can help when he is back from field work on Aug 7th.