Is it worth buying Pyritized fossils for display?

[aplomado]

Is it worth buying Pyritized fossils (ammonites, etc) for display?

 

I have read many times about them being damaged by "pyrite disease."

I am not interested in buying one of these fossils if I have to keep it sealed away.

 

Thank you.

[Auspex]

Pyrite Disease is sometimes, but not always, a fatal one for an openly displayed pyritized fossil.
I have some that were fine, but had turned to powder when next I opened the box. On the other hand, I have a large pyritized brachiopod (bought from Malick's Fossils 50+ years ago) that is fine. My impression is that the most unstable ones are the Jurassic ones from the UK, but that is hear-say info.

[Tidgy's Dad]

I lost nearly all my UK Lias ammonites and much of my Sheppey stuff to pyrites disease. 

But as Auspex says it seems to be pretty random. 

A couple of my oldest ones are still with me. 

[izak_]

Is there a coating you can put on them to prevent it? A thick coating of paraloid?

[Fossildude19]

There have been extensive discussions about Pyrite Disease here on the Forum.   

 

Here is a particularly ambitious experiment in preventing the onset of Pyrite Disease.

[caldigger]

Are you in an area that experiences a lot of humidity or moisture in general, ie. the beach?  If so you may be a tad bit more susceptible to it.

I live in California. We refer to our environment as a "dry heat", lol.

[JohnBrewer]

Belt and braces. Just coat it. A weak coat of Paraloid or similar is really cheap and will not show on the fossil. Too much will make it glossy. 

[siteseer]

On February 28, 2018 at 3:32 PM, Auspex said:

Pyrite Disease is sometimes, but not always, a fatal one for an openly displayed pyritized fossil.
I have some that were fine, but had turned to powder when next I opened the box. On the other hand, I have a large pyritized brachiopod (bought from Malick's Fossils 50+ years ago) that is fine. My impression is that the most unstable ones are the Jurassic ones from the UK, but that is hear-say info.

 

Hi Chas.

 

I had a small sample of various ammonites from the Jurassic Lons-le-Saulnier site in France.  They were nice pyrtized specimens at first but within a few years every one of them became reduced to powder.  I have a few from about the same part of the Jurassic from Germany that are still fine.  I have a couple of pyrite-coated Ptychodus teeth (Turonian age) from South Dakota and they're fine.

 

Jess

 

[aplomado]

On 2/28/2018 at 7:19 PM, caldigger said:

Are you in an area that experiences a lot of humidity or moisture in general, ie. the beach?  If so you may be a tad bit more susceptible to it.

I live in California. We refer to our environment as a "dry heat", lol.

We are pretty humid down here in the summer...