Lucky Charms

[cowsharks]

Over the last few months I have bribed, guilted, and coerced one or both of my sons to go fossil collecting with me. They are 18 and 21 yrs old, living at home while going to college, and any free time seems to go to the Xbox 360. Once and a while they give in and join good old dad for a day of collecting, as long as I don't try to get them out of bed before 6am. In any event, there is this very apparent trend in that each time one of my sons goes with me, one or both of us seem to find at least one really nice specimen, thus I have deemed them my "Lucky Charms". What's funny is that they sort of compete with each other as to who brings me more luck and finds more. Those of you with kids know how great the feeling is when your kids, no matter the age, spend quality time with you. All of that being said, on one of our last outings the beach was fairly solid, almost frozen over due to the really cold temps here in MD recently. As a result I had to shovel some of the material from the freezing surf up onto the beach and let the waves rinse it a bit. I did this in like 10 or 20 ft increments and would then go back over the area to see if anything got uncovered. At one point I looked down and saw this awesome gem, glistening in the Sun. It was a really nice Pigmy great white (Palaeocarcharodon orientalis), sticking into the sand. I prayed that the tip was there as I yelled to my son to come over to see it. I promptly took a few ground shots and then picked it up - absolutely perfect! I hadn't found a nice one like this in quite a long time. It was quite a blessing to be out that day with my son, spending quality time, and finding some nice fossils which were the icing on the cake!

Daryl.

[John Hamilton]

Wow! That is a beautiful tooth and the photography is excellent.

[MarcoSr]

Daryl

Awesome condition! I would much rather find one tooth like yours than hundreds of teeth.

I'm pretty lucky that the majority of my fossil trips are with at least one of my sons. I collected with my sons when they were young. Then they both lost interest mostly through High School and College. Then they really got the collecting bug after college. So hopefully your kids will get the bug too. My sons are much better collectors than I am, so I get to see plenty of great fossils every collecting trip, and like you said, you can't beat quality time with your kids.

Marco Sr.

[RickNC]

Very nice find Daryl.

[Roz]

I'm glad you had such a great trip with treasures!

[obsessed1]

Awesome tooth Daryl ! The cusps on that one are more developed than on most of the ones I have found.

[Auspex]

That's my favorite shark tooth species, and it's a beauty!

[cowsharks]

Thanks folks...and yep, the one thing I really like about this particular specimen is that the cusps are a bit more developed than the vast majority of the teeth I find of this species. Of course, the cusps are no where's near the type found on the Moroccan Palaeocarcharodon teeth, but I wish they were . The serrations on our US versions though are very similar in that they are irregularly shaped and very coarse/jagged. As thin as the crowns are though, I can't imagine these sharks chomping into thick bones, but rather using their teeth to cut out large chunks of prey.

[cowsharks]

Wow! That is a beautiful tooth and the photography is excellent.

Thanks. The "photography" was done with my Epson Perfection 4490 scanner, and the images edited with Adobe Photoshop Elements. Once I get my Macro lens for my Nikon D7000 DSLR, I'll give the real photography a try .

[fossilselachian]

Looks like it was lost the day before you found it. A gem! Congrats.

[Terphunter]

Thats one cool thing about Maryland...might not find a lot of finds or much big stuff...but you can find some quality! Awesome tooth!

[caldigger]

Wow, superb job on the photos and the tooth itself is absolutely beautiful, choice! I was lucky that early in life , my father instilled a love for outdoor exploration...of course we didn't have video games in those days. But I love exploring way too much to ever want to spend daylight hours indoors.

So parents, get your children outside, let them loose (within reason!) to explore and I'll bet it will plant the seed in interests beyond the console box.

P.S. Do you rent out your "Lucky Charms"? I could use some nice fossil specimens in my collection.

Edited December 16, 2013 by caldigger

[Scylla]

Excellent tooth! I agree with bringing sons as good luck charms. I never do as well without mine, mostly because the time with them, the joy of the hunt, the thrill of discovery and the warm afterglow of a good day all are more valuable than any fossils I ever find.

[siteseer]

Daryl,

That's a killer specimen.

Yeah, Palaeocarcharodon was probably a fish-eater. The rather flat teeth and the irregular serrations are well-suited for tearing into soft flesh and snapping thin bones. It appeared not long after the K/T extinctions during a time when bony fishes and sharks recovered and diversified then disappeared before the earliest whales and dugongs.

Jess

Thanks folks...and yep, the one thing I really like about this particular specimen is that the cusps are a bit more developed than the vast majority of the teeth I find of this species. Of course, the cusps are no where's near the type found on the Moroccan Palaeocarcharodon teeth, but I wish they were . The serrations on our US versions though are very similar in that they are irregularly shaped and very coarse/jagged. As thin as the crowns are though, I can't imagine these sharks chomping into thick bones, but rather using their teeth to cut out large chunks of prey.

[cowsharks]

Daryl

Awesome condition! I would much rather find one tooth like yours than hundreds of teeth.

I'm pretty lucky that the majority of my fossil trips are with at least one of my sons. I collected with my sons when they were young. Then they both lost interest mostly through High School and College. Then they really got the collecting bug after college. So hopefully your kids will get the bug too. My sons are much better collectors than I am, so I get to see plenty of great fossils every collecting trip, and like you said, you can't beat quality time with your kids.

Marco Sr.

Marco, what's really great is the added bonus of my wife's encouragement when my son's decide to go with me. When I go by myself, lets just say I'm expected to be home by a certain time, but when my son's go with me it's "make sure you have fun and don't rush home - make sure you guys talk a lot, etc". So believe me, when they go with me, we're there all day, or as long as I know I can push it before they cave. I don't want to push it too far else they'll never go again. I'm blessed with good boys and as they have matured they know it means a lot for us to spend time together. I really could care less if we find anything great, in fact, I'm always hoping they will find something nice to keep them interested and encouraged. I used to be able to get away with "salting" a few teeth here and there right in their path - the look on their face when they would find a nice croc tooth or Meg was awesome. Now they're too smart for that and even now will question me when they find something nice to make sure I didn't "drop" it there for them to find. Although I don't necessarily do that, I do frequently pass over certain teeth in hopes that they will find them.

Daryl.

[squalicorax]

I'd be your son any day to collect with you! Im 24 and go to college too!

[jcbshark]

absolutely beautiful tooth,congrats!

[sixgill pete]

Amazing tooth, Daryl. Spending time with your boys this way is the real pleasure, the tooth is but the icing. My daughters quit going with me many years ago, but I am lucky to have one grandson who loves to go. And like you said, on our days together, I get much more pleasure seeing him come up with the find of the day. Which he usually does.

[MarcoSr]

Marco, what's really great is the added bonus of my wife's encouragement when my son's decide to go with me. When I go by myself, lets just say I'm expected to be home by a certain time, but when my son's go with me it's "make sure you have fun and don't rush home - make sure you guys talk a lot, etc". So believe me, when they go with me, we're there all day, or as long as I know I can push it before they cave. I don't want to push it too far else they'll never go again. I'm blessed with good boys and as they have matured they know it means a lot for us to spend time together. I really could care less if we find anything great, in fact, I'm always hoping they will find something nice to keep them interested and encouraged. I used to be able to get away with "salting" a few teeth here and there right in their path - the look on their face when they would find a nice croc tooth or Meg was awesome. Now they're too smart for that and even now will question me when they find something nice to make sure I didn't "drop" it there for them to find. Although I don't necessarily do that, I do frequently pass over certain teeth in hopes that they will find them.

Daryl.

Daryl

It's really funny. My kids would leave fossils for me to find and my wife would tell me whether I was with my sons or by myself "Take all the time you want. Just call before you head back so I can have dinner ready when you get home." My wife loves getting me out of the house so she can do her pet projects also.

Marco Sr.

[MikeDOTB]

A beauty of a tooth. Congrats!!