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Collectors What is Your Most Prized Fossil?


Huntonia

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29 minutes ago, Jackson g said:

Did you prep and find this yourself?

No, unfortunately I have neither access to a hunting site nor the tools to prep fossils. The Huntonia was found and prepped with an air abrasive by Dave Giuseffi. Dave owns a site down in Oklahoma and on his trips down there he finds lots of partial and incomplete Huntonias. He was nice enough to sell me one of the better of the bunch for a phenomenal price. As an added bonus he threw in an extra Huntonia cephalon. 

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Well either way, it is very nice! That's rather fortunate, always good to have friends in the right places. I've wanted to add one of the two huntonia trilos from the Oklahoma Haragan Formation to my collection, I just haven't got to it yet. They are kinda pricey from what I've seen though, but rather unique. I really like the long pygidial spine on the Lingulifer.

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8 minutes ago, Jackson g said:

Well either way, it is very nice! That's rather fortunate, always good to have friends in the right places. I've wanted to add one of the two huntonia trilos from the Oklahoma Haragan Formation to my collection, I just haven't got to it yet. They are kinda pricey from what I've seen though, but rather unique. I really like the long pygidial spine on the Lingulifer.

In the right places you can get them for quite cheap, I got mine for $20. I attached some pictures of one that's going for $15 right now on one of the sites I like. The species is H. Oklahomae so the pygidial spine isn't very long. Btw I love that Kettneraspis in your profile pic.

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Thank you, its the fossil that started my collection. It's one of my favorites from the Haragan formation. I have many fossils I hold on a pedastle, but probably the personal finds I prize most. These two take the cake for me. First is the first trilo I prepped; and I didn't do the best job either, but I'm still happy with it. The second is a brachiopod that I've come to hold as my favorite personal find, with an inner support preserved. 

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I don’t have a most prized fossil, however I have narrowed it down to a few of my most prized fossils. These are not the most expensive fossils in my collection, but the ones with the most scientific value, therefore the most “prized” in my opinion.

 

 

1.     Ochetoceras cf. zio

Late Jurassic

Taman formation 

Southern San Luis Potosí, Mexico

 

This is a rare species of ammonite with only a few known specimens from Germany. 

 

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2.     Dapalis macrurus 

early oligocene 

Cereste, France

 

It is an uncommon species of fish.

 

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3.     Blattodea Indet. (Cockroach)

mid-Cretaceous

Northern Myanmar 

 

It is a large adult 1.2 cm long cockroach. Adult Cockroaches from Burmese amber are very uncommon.

 

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"Without fossils, no one would have ever dreamed that there were successive epochs in the formation of the earth" - Georges Cuvier

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Nice topic!
I only self-collect, so its not easy. But if I have to choose two fossils to take with me and leave all the others behind, this would be my choice (some of you already know them :)). Not uncommon, but good and typical specimens like these are rare there and need some luck to find them.

Franz Bernhard

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I think it is a toss up of these three: my first trilobite, a large slab of St. Clair seed ferns, and a gift from the staff at American Fossil Quarry.

 

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Follow me on Instagram (@fossil_mike) to check out my personal collection of fossils collected and acquired over more than 15 years of fossil hunting!

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

My hadrosaur foot is special to me because it is the first armature I welded myself!  Working on the leg above it next.

edmonto foot.JPG

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  • 7 months later...

I really could not choose between rare or perfect specimens self found. Also been a sentimental person gifts form Mrs R or from forum members that really have surprised me in thoughtfulness and unusualness they don’t have to be  the rarest or most valuable to blow my socks off  . I will see if I can add a few . 

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I'm glad to see more interest in this topic. I have been able to grow my collection a lot in the past several months so here is a new favorite of mine. This incredible Dalmanites. Both genal spines are entirely complete as is the pygidial spine. It has both eyes, both with eye facets, and all in all is probably my most well preserved trilobite. As an additional bonus part of the pygidial spine has been replaced with calcite and fluoresces under UV light. Unfortunately lighting conditions are quite poor today so my photography leaves much to be desired. 

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I may post pictures of a few more bugs a bit later, I am becoming more and more familiar with the dilemma of choosing. 

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37 minutes ago, Huntonia said:

r, I am becoming more and more familiar with the dilemma of choosing

Nice bug. I really liked the picture of the trilobite at the disco.:D  

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My favourite fossil has to be the coral colony Lepidophyllia (Heterastrea) tomesi , from the Lower Lias of Kilve, North Somerset, England. 

It is a huge, complete and beautiful specimen for its time and the first really unusual and spectacular fossil I ever found, almost fifty yeas ago. 

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And i must include a brachiopod, this Hesperorthis tricenaria from the Platteville Formation, Mid Ordovician of Platteville, Wisconsin is just dreamy:

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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26 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

And i must include a brachiopod,

Love the coral as you know and the preservation on this brachiopod is amazing. :envy:

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I have more rare and better quality specimens than this little trilobite from the  Calymenidae family, but it is what brought me around to fossils as a serious hobby, so it holds a special place in my collection. It is, without a doubt, my most prized fossil. 
 

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The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.  -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

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3 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

And i must include a brachiopod, this Hesperorthis tricenaria from the Platteville Formation, Mid Ordovician of Platteville, Wisconsin is just dreamy

Beautiful! :wub:

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The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.  -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

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Great stuff everybody! That is one beauty of a rex tooth @Dracarys! I've always wanted one but a quick look at the price tags has done a good job of deterring me :heartylaugh:I'll put up one more of mine for today. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Oklahoma's iconic Huntoniatonias. Well recently I managed to pick up another one. Unlike the one in my profile pic it is missing its eye facets and its rostrum but it is much larger and has vastly superior shell quality. And the color too! Pictures just do not do this one justice. So here it is (top) pictured next to my old one.

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Needless to say I was a very happy camper when I pulled this one from the mail :)

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Hun-ton-ia-ton-ias. That is a mouthful. I'm probably mispronouncing it. :heartylaugh:

 

Nice trilo! I has great detail.

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3 minutes ago, Praefectus said:

Hun-ton-ia-ton-ias. That is a mouthful. I'm probably mispronouncing it. :heartylaugh:

 

It certainly is! That's why I normally end up just saying Huntonia. Turns out the name was already taken (by a genus of isopod if I remember correctly) so they just tacked an extra 'tonia' on the end and called it good. 

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3 hours ago, Huntonia said:

It certainly is! That's why I normally end up just saying Huntonia. Turns out the name was already taken (by a genus of isopod if I remember correctly) so they just tacked an extra 'tonia' on the end and called it good. 

That's hilarious.

I guess you chose your handle before that change was made?  :P

I've got a few Oklahoma bugs and other fossils from Black Cat Mtn but no Huntoniatonia so far. Another one for the Want List!

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17 hours ago, Dracarys said:

Too many to choose from but probably my 3.6 inch T rex tooth and an opalized ornithomimid vert from Lightning Ridge. 

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That vert is gorgeous! Ive never seen a photo of one before. 

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On 14/02/2020 at 3:09 AM, Dracarys said:

Too many to choose from but probably my 3.6 inch T rex tooth and an opalized ornithomimid vert from Lightning Ridge. 

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Beautiful rex! 

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Difficult question, and it may change any time.

But for now here are four-ish favorites of mine:

 

The Keichou is a gift from my girlfriend and the completest fossil tetrapod I own

The theropod ilium from kemkem is by far the best dinosaur fossil I could get my hands on

This symmetrically damaged little meg because I can imagine that it has been used as a tool in precolumbian times (as has happened with others)

Fossil blowhole and bulla because they are whales.

The few I value much because I found them myself don´t appeal much to the eye.

There are also some of interesting mineralisation (pyrite, vivianite, opal...)

Best Regards,

J

 

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Try to learn something about everything and everything about something

Thomas Henry Huxley

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This is Devonian coral is my most prized fossils!! Not rare or good quality at all compared to my other fossils in my collection, but it was the first fossil I got. After liking dinosaurs and fossils for about a year and a half years my dad and mom took me fossil hunting when I was about 3, down by Rock Point Provincial Park. I found this my first fossil!!, and first of many I would collect not just from that area but my first fossil ever!!

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