Wolffish Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 As newcomers to thewhole fossil - paleo world, my wife and I are stil finding new things most of teh time we go out on the beach. The community here is very helpful at ID, suggestions, ... Bt many / most of you have been doing this for years. (Not that fossil collecting for a long time is a bad thing!) I just wonder if you remember when you found your first "good" specimens - finds that, today, you might not even care about. But, when you first found them they were AWESOME! Over the past month, we've found a couple of our best / firsts. Most aren't significant to anyone but us, but we stilllove the reserach and checking out all the stuff we bring home from an evening on the beach. Recent firsts from the Calvert Cliffs include: Our first nice Cow Shark tooth Our first decent Mako from this particular beach (I THINK it's a mako - correct me if I'm wrong) And, last eveing, my wife founfd what I'm pretty sure is our first Porpoise earbone (By the way - my wife finds ALL the good stuff!) None of these are FOTM candidates - not even close - but they sure are great to find when you first start looking for fossils. Remeber when you first started? What was your "best" find?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 (edited) My first best find was a two 1/4 in mako from Summerville SC. My first best find from NC an almost complete GW from Aurora mine NC. And my first best find was an uncommon angle shark tooth from NJ. Thanks for posting this topic it is nice Edited September 3, 2012 by Survivor : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vordigern Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 my first good find was beginners luck, it was my first hunt at Big Brook (and actually my first hunt ever) I had found the typical teeth, belemnites and exogyra and I was 10' from exiting the stream and going home at the end of a long day when I spied a 5" enchodus jaw on the bank of the stream, didnt really know what it was at the time but it looked like bone so I took it home. Took me several years to find someone who could ID it for me, sure glad I didnt toss it with all the other rocks that looked like bones that I used to pick up in my early years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachj Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 my first big find was a 1 1/4 lower hastalis from the pit of the pungo. my 2nd big find was a 2 inch gmr great white! then a gmr tiger! then a gmr crow then 2 aurora cow shark teeth then a belgrade quarry mako! then another gmr crow. then a worn gmr meg Ive also found some aurora threshers, other makos, alot of aurora tigers, some real nice aurora hemis, and sand tigers. Love this post idea. one day i will find a tooth over 3 inches in good conditon haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 As a wee lad, I found a 3-D section of Stigmaria that was half as big as I was; my ever-patient Father carried it a half mile to the car. "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...
Kosmoceras Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 This Charmouth ammonite was my first find, it was many years ago so I can't really remember it. Androgynoceras lataecosta Charmouth, Dorset, UK Early Jurassic, 190 -185 million years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dromiopsis Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 (edited) 20 years ago I went in a old quarry in the French Apls...a huge stone was offering "Toxaster retusus" from the upper Cretaceous, Hauterivian...my only white sea urchins from this period....I love it! the big stone is now burried under 4-5 meters of soil... D Edited September 3, 2012 by Dromiopsis Gallery pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/supergrevling/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Cool everyone! Your first finds are all better than mine. : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Don't have a photo (pre digital) but I remember well my first complete trilobite! Enrolled Flexicalymene meeki. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 (edited) I found this trilobite cephalon when I was 16 while out on one of my first hunting trips: Ameura sp. Winterset Limestone Jackson County, Missouri I have to mention this partial eurypterid I picked up a year later: Adelophthalmus sp. Wyandotte Formation Johnson County, Kansas Edited September 4, 2012 by Missourian Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KansasFossilHunter Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 My First find was my best find (so far) http://www.hdnews.net/Story/eel091910 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Nice Kansas! : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raistlin Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I am always waiting for my first good find. I had some cool stuff I found as a kid, but it has been misplaced by time. I started back up this year and have found some cool things. Each different thing though has a chance of having the first good find in that area. To date though my favorite find is a simple chert nodule trilobite that I found in a creek. My son and I were walking the creek and I just happened to notice it. The way the creek is used and all I am really surprised it has survived. I have never found such preservaion in chert before. Yet the other day I found blastoids for the first time so they are my first good find in the area. I hope to have a good find in all different areas lol. RobertSoutheast, MO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolffish Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 LOVE the stories - thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Empty Pockets Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I don't have a pic at the moment but the mortality slab of Anataphrus trilobites that I found 8-9 years ago in the Maquoketa Shale is still unprepped. The shell preservation is poor, even paper thin, but I estimate 20+ trilobites to be on it. I still haven't found the nerve to prep it yet. It was beginner's luck in an out of the way small exposure that no one else knows about or has never looked. One of these days I will prep it........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockncajun Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Empty pocket, I saw the video that you made and I am sure your wife & Nanna has a nice collection also. They found some cool stuff! You are so lucky to live in an area where material can be found. Here in La. the pickings are slim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Thanks for starting the thread -- some great finds already.. Hard to believe that I started looking for fossils less than 4 years ago, and like most I was looking for MEGS!!! But I did not find any for a long time, mostly because I really did not know what I was doing. Before getting discouraged, I found some perfect shark teeth, these 3 from approximately the same location. Small but look at the quality. I believe that the snaggle was first of my real great finds. Enjoy!! The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Nice! : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I of course remember many of my first finds, some of which like you say wouldn't be worth anything to anyone else but they have sentimental value to me, and it's sad to think that they will end up tossed out when I am gone because no one else sees them the way I do, but what can you do? Some of the other early finds, the ones that were good enough that anyone would keep them, have been lost or were mistreated/damaged or the data forgotten. I was very irresponsible as a kid and I hate to be reminded of this too! Oh well, I have found plenty of good stuff since then.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Macefield:) Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Its a great passion to have! My first impressive find that I was happy with was probably either an Echinoid (echinocorys scutata) I found in a field, or a lovely calcite ammonite I found at Charmouth, Lyme Regis in Dorset. First finds always stay close to you, I still have mine of course and remember the excitement I experienced when first finding them!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32fordboy Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 (edited) I found many tiny things like pet wood and broken shells, but here is my first find worth keeping: the world's ugliest Allosaurus tooth. Sorry for the terrible photo. Ugly photo for an ugly fossil. The only way we were able to tell it was a tooth was by the odd-looking, smooth interior (along a break) that is characteristic of a tooth. The base is at the right of the photo, the front of the tooth is at the top. One side is gone. There is only a very tiny strip of enamel. Edited September 13, 2012 by 32fordboy www.nicksfossils.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 Cool everyone! Your first finds are all better than mine. Ha! Ditto. "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 Great reading the stories and good idea for a thread... My first find was over 20 years back whilst on an organised museum trip into Scunthorpe Ironstone mine north Lincolnshire... Little did I know at the time (I was acompanying a work colleague) we were in one of the best sites in the UK for liassic ammonite preservation and as a consequence these ammonites are now all over the world held in some of the best collections and museums...We had a tour of the museum followed by a couple of hours with guided talks exploring the local geology and then we were let loose on a big pile of rock with lump hammers and chisels... When I found this ammonite I didnt think it was complete but 12 months later after revealling more of it myself using a masonry nail and hammer... I finally got it professionally cleaned...I should have it polished really to reveal its true beauty but stellare's aint so common and its still ' as found ' with the chamosite stained turquoise green calcite shell still intact... It can stay as it is for now... Asteroceras stellare... Frodigham Ironstone mine North Lincolnshire Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Asteroceras stellare... Frodigham Ironstone mine North Lincolnshire Beautiful. Is the matrix conglomerate? Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 (edited) Missourian.... Thanks... and Conglomerate, no although I can see why at first glance you would think this... Its Frodingham ironstone which was laid down during the opening period of the Jurassic as fine silts when the sea covered most of England... As much as one third of the bed consists of shell fragments (which is what you see that looks like rounded pebbles)... Edited September 18, 2012 by Terry Dactyll Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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