Is that top fossil of a plant from the Green River Formation? Certainly the Matrix color and the fossil's preservation makes me think so. If so, that's a nice 50,000,000 year old plant you have there. The petrified wood is a nice touch too. I like the fact your ammonite has not been polished. While polished ammonite fossils can indeed be beautiful, it's nice to see them in their natural state as they would come out of the ground.
I have a kukri from the Ghurkas, and a M1860 US Cavaly saber. And lots of first-production, pre-production, and prototype knives from my manufacturing days.
Let's play a game. Guess whether this is an animal or plant (there's two of this specimen in the matrix). Is it even a whole animal or plant, or if not, what part of an animal or plant this is depicting. Extra credit, guess how old this fossil is:
I used to collect swords & blades in general. Sold most regretfully. Still have some blades & a couple of swords. Nothing like what I had.
OK, since it's not a cool dinosaur and no one bit, here is the answer I gave to another forum member about this fossil. Species: Gogia Palmeri Family: Cystoid (Extinct) Middle Cambrian 505,000,000 years old That particular fossil is a gogia palmeri, which belonged to a class of echinoderms that is now extinct (modern Echinoderms include starfish, sponges, sand dollars, etc). This particular animal was a Cystoid, from which another better-known class of animals evolved, the crinoids (modern crinoids are the so-called sea-lilies or feather stars). However, unlike their descendants (the crinoids), cystoids are completely extinct. To give you an idea of age, around 505,000,000 years old. TO put that into perspective, dinosaurs came around for the first time 250,000,000 years ago. So if you were to go back to the time of the dinosaurs, the fossil I showed would have been 255,000,000 years old at the time the first dinosaur in the world took its first breath. I bought it with my coin budget as I'm not buying coins until I fix my mess with the collection. Does anyone have an older fossil they'd like to share?
That's utterly incredible. I suppose I will have to get an example or two of life that old and extending into the Cambrian explosion (541 to 485 million years ago)....let alone anything from the pre-cambrian. And then there's the mammal-like reptiles that preceded the dinosaurs.....
Precambrian is going to be tough. Most of what you'll find from that era are so-called trace fossils (tracks from movement and burrowing left by the animals, rather than the animal itself). Most animals then were soft bodied and just didn't get preserved, so you are going to most likely have to do with fossilised tracks of precambrian worms. But actual fossils of the animals themselves are extremely rare to come by. So if you don't mind trace fossils rather than the actual fossil of the animal, have at it. I'd love to add one or two eventually. It may not be the fossil of the actual lifeform, but any fossil that shows evidence of a live and moving animal from 550+ million years ago is cool enough by itself.
How about old newspapers? Like this one from 1680, which is a Protestant issue that bashes all aspects of Catholicism. There is also a mention of Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder plot. Or how about this one from 1755? There is a lot of info about the Great Lisbon Earthquake and scientists', well.... uninformed theories about how earthquakes happen. Or this one from 1876 that has a front-page engraving of a train wreck (a "cornfield meet") and lots of info about the US's centennial exposition that would take place in three days.
@Carthago : Sadly you are correct, the type specimen (first one scientifically described) of Spinosaurus was destroyed in WWII when a stray bomb hit the museum in Berlin. There are photos of those original fossils, and further remains have been found in Northern Africa, but some knowledge has probably been lost forever. @ro1974 : I think the top "plant fossil" you posted looks more like a dendrite, a non-fossil mineral formation of manganese crystals that grows in a branching pattern that resembles plants. Still pretty cool, even if it's not a fossil. (Fossils, by definition, are the remains or traces of ancient life, while dendrites form purely by chemical action.) @Sallent : If you want to find pre-Cambrian fossils on the market, your best bet is to look for a stromatolite (a rather plain-looking lump that is formed by algal mats). Not very glamorous, but even worm trails aren't common before the Cambrian. @Mikey Zee : I do have one fossil of a synapsid (mammal-like reptile), a small piece of the dorsal sail from Edaphosaurus, a plant-eating relative of the much more famous carnivore Dimetrodon. Here's my fossil, from Texas: And a reconstruction of the animal in life: (Image source: Public domain, via Wikipedia)
I miss the Nature Company! Remember those beautiful stores back in the 80s and 90s? I think that's where I where I bought my first hunk of petrified wood.
I believe this is my oldest: Brachyaspidion microps BM92 7mm, martrix: 26mm x 43mm Cambrian Period, 500 million years old. Wheeler Formation, Millard Co. Utah. Not as old but I got this one for a friend. Fossilized Whale Tympanic Bulla (ear bone) east coast fossil Miocene/Pleistocene Epoch
To be fair, a number of so-called "fossils" available are in fact chicken bones that were aged to defraud the public. Just like coins are rife with counterfeits, fossils are also subject a wide amount of deception.
My only fossil (so far) is this one. Got it from Heritage because I thought it was cool. I don't know a whole lot about fossils, but if I ever find the funds, I would like to get more.
not fussils ,where i post it? http://i65.tinypic.com/27x0x9z.jpg[/IMG [IMG]http://i66.tinypic.com/dwatk2.jpg
Physicsfan, I would love to get a fossil like that. I would imagine that you must've paid a pretty price for it. I also like the slabs that have leaves together with fish on them. Erin
If I didn't know better I'd say that looks like a fish. Seriously, if I had that, I wouldn't rest until I knew exactly what it was. Do this critter right. Join up, here, and ask: http://www.thefossilforum.com. Then, just sit back and wait. They'll do all the work.