Buying Fossils And A Few Other Things...

[kaczosaur]

I know many are expensive, but I was wondering if anyone knew of a few sites to buy them from (especially but not limited to dinosaurs)?

Also any fossil books, including ones on excavation. :fpc:

[lordpiney]

don miller (smilodon on here)is a pretty reputable dealer in all things petrified. shoot him a message, and im pretty sure he can help you out. i heard he knows an author on the subject too!

[Phoenixflood]

Hi

I always say that anything is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it

The market goes up and down. The best way to learn about price is to see what other people are buying them for. Learning from others is a great way to get to know about fossils and their prices. Also you will learn that there are many things that go into determining the price of a fossil: condition, location, rarity, color, species, size for it's type, and many other factors. Once you know these things you can have a pretty good feel for what to pay for something. Ebay is a good resource although sometimes people overpay or underpay. Find a dino tooth you really want, like a triceratops tooth, google it and see what dealer prices are and what they have sold for in the past. Then ebay it and see what comes up.

[tracer]

if you study up on things on the internet and at your local library, you might be able to focus your new interests somewhat and at the same time educate yourself regarding fossils, especially as it pertains to buying them. condition and originality are very important issues, and the only way to train your eye regarding what to buy and what to avoid is to see a lot of stuff, and the best, fastest, easiest place to do that is online, unless there are major fossil shows near you.

good luck with it.

[Terry Dactyll]

I'd be tempted to start by going for local material.... Being local it adds more interest, less travelling and expense involved and your nearest museum should have some material to look at to get you started with locality information and the date it was collected etc, even if not out on display..... If you ask, they will generally show you..... so a Local Geological map or guide, would be a good start I think.... You may not understand anything right away, but a few hours googling, you'll soon be an expert.....

[Auspex]

Start with reputable, well established dealers; don't buy on Ebay until you have some experience under your belt, and even then avoid any sellers with a less-than-perfect rating.

[Frank Menser]

I kind of approach it from the "safari" viewpoint. Pick a species, research it, ask questions. Then, look to the market and shop around. often the first one you find won't be the best, or the most affordable. Be patient because later on when you are more advanced you may find yourself (like me) with a lot of inferior specimens on the back shelf as you upgrade that represent money you should have paid for the better specimen you will want.

[Guest Smilodon]

Phil,

Thank you for those kind words.

kaczosaur,

The fastest way to learn about fossil prices is to go to Ebay, Collectibles, Rocks Fossils Minerals, and then Fossils - you'll see anywhere between 5-7,000 items. These days, about half the listings are for jewelry so you can ignore them. Look for things you might be interested in and see what the sellers are asking, better yet, go to SOLD fossils and see what things actually sold for - a much better indicator than what sellers are asking. That should keep you busy for a while. Resist the urge to bid, however, until you are knowledgeable.

As for Books, the best book for the average collector ever written about fossils, fossil collecting, and vertebrate fossil identification is Discovering Fossils by Garcia and Miller (read the Amazon reviews). If you are interested in paleozoic material, however, you are on your own.

Edited March 19, 2010 by Smilodon