Makes You Wonder?

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

Well I started a new job about three months ago, and I informed my co-workers about my hobby. So today, one of them asked me what she had found and what age they were. She held out her hand and there were four shark's teeth sitting as pretty as you please. Two very common tiger shark types, one was a small mako and the fourth was an extremely pretty, nearly perfect great white!! The enamel was perfect with every serration and a very sharp tip. The root was a little bit messed up, but it was a keeper for sure, albeit small at about 1.5 inches.

So it makes me wonder: How many good/great/rare fossils end up being found by some "non-collector" and end up sitting in a drawer somewhere in their kitchen? I'd bet the number is shocking.

Just my thoughts after she showed them to me.

Take care,Del

[Nicholas]

Oh I definitely have run into this before. I can think of two very pretty fossils which are just sitting in peoples houses as decor rather than as a piece of a collection. One is a very large chunk of petrified wood which has a happy home as a door stop. The other is my brother inlaws, and it is a huge crinoid holdfast which is full of calcite crystallization. It is one of the most beautiful fossil from the area I've seen and it was only kept out of curiosity.

[Stonebreaker]

A little off topic and not trying to hijack your post but I read somewhere that only .50% of all fossils have been found. Makes you wonder about whats out there.

[siteseer]

Well I started a new job about three months ago, and I informed my co-workers about my hobby. So today, one of them asked me what she had found and what age they were. She held out her hand and there were four shark's teeth sitting as pretty as you please. Two very common tiger shark types, one was a small mako and the fourth was an extremely pretty, nearly perfect great white!! The enamel was perfect with every serration and a very sharp tip. The root was a little bit messed up, but it was a keeper for sure, albeit small at about 1.5 inches.

So it makes me wonder: How many good/great/rare fossils end up being found by some "non-collector" and end up sitting in a drawer somewhere in their kitchen? I'd bet the number is shocking.

Just my thoughts after she showed them to me.

Take care,Del

Del,

A friend told me about a small (2-3 inches) but killer megalodon that his girlfriend found with him in Scotts Valley, California (Late Miocene, Lower Santa Margarita Fm.). Most megalodon are very water-worn but my friend said it was perfect. She kept it even though she wasn't into fossils. They broke up a couple of years before he told me about it. I told him to get back with her long enough to get that tooth for me. He just laughed.

I hear about people using fossil whale or dinosaur vertebrae for doorstops and using rare ammonites as decorations on their fireplace.

Jess

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

Back a long time ago, here in Bama, fossil whale verts were being used as the foundation stones for people's homes. They are (were) found in the southern part of the state where the homes were built up off the ground on columns of rocks. Many of those "rocks" turned out to be whale verts.

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

Word test: ###### Creek

In case any of the Mods or Admin read this... Isn't it a little bit too restrictive when we can't even type in the name of a very famous fossil location like the one I tried above? It is the famous Tennessee site called Koon Creek but with a C and not a K.

I ran into this problem on Chat the other day.

Edited June 24, 2010 by N.AL.hunter

[bear-dog]

The first one comes to mind was a neighbor where I use to live had a huge rock garden in his yard made up of fossils he had hunted.All of them pristine fossils,used as a conversation piece.

I moved shortly after finding this out.Too strange for me.

[Seldom]

A little off topic and not trying to hijack your post but I read somewhere that only .50% of all fossils have been found. Makes you wonder about whats out there.

I would like to read that report. If we don't know how many are out there how can they say 1/2 have been found.

[JimB88]

I think its funny..when watching the sitcom "Two and a half men" I began noticing that in the background of almost every house there were huge fossil ammonites and belemnite slabs...I wonder if the director or producers are into fossils.

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

I think its funny..when watching the sitcom "Two and a half men" I began noticing that in the background of almost every house there were huge fossil ammonites and belemnite slabs...I wonder if the director or producers are into fossils.

Good eyes you have!! I believe that Charlie Sheen is an avid fossil collector. There are several Holliwood actors/directors/producers who have very large/nice collections.

[ashcraft]

I would like to read that report. If we don't know how many are out there how can they say 1/2 have been found.

You missed the "point" (.), it says .50%, that is one half of one percent of all fossils-but I have to also wonder how they would generate such a number.

Brent Ashcraft

[Auspex]

Word test: ###### Creek

In case any of the Mods or Admin read this... Isn't it a little bit too restrictive when we can't even type in the name of a very famous fossil location like the one I tried above? It is the famous Tennessee site called Koon Creek but with a C and not a K.

I ran into this problem on Chat the other day.

I'm on it, Del; thanks!

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

coon creek

Alright Auspex!! Thanks!!

Now, I am thinking about going to this site. Very preliminary at this point. It will take a group effort of committed hunters since all they allow to come are organized groups.

I am just sending out a feeler right now to see if there are enough people on the forum that 1. want to collect at this wonderful site AND 2. can make it there to collect and pay the entry fee?

It will probably not be cheap! Might be as much as $50 per person if we have to spend the night at their facility. Right now, I am just finding out if there is even enough interest in it to put in the effort.

I will open another thread for this question.

Del

Edited June 25, 2010 by N.AL.hunter

[Stonebreaker]

It was a palo on Dicovery channel,NG or maybe Animal planet that said that..and thats what I turned to my GF and said.."How do they know how much is out there?" Maybe by laws of averages? No clue.

[Auspex]

You missed the "point" (.), it says .50%, that is one half of one percent of all fossils-but I have to also wonder how they would generate such a number.

Brent Ashcraft

Thanks, Brent; I had "missed the 'point'" also, and was in the throes of an apoplectic scoffing fit. As made-up numbers go, that one is more palatable in this context.

[siteseer]

coon creek

Alright Auspex!! Thanks!!

Now, I am thinking about going to this site. Very preliminary at this point. It will take a group effort of committed hunters since all they allow to come are organized groups.

I am just sending out a feeler right now to see if there are enough people on the forum that 1. want to collect at this wonderful site AND 2. can make it there to collect and pay the entry fee?

It will probably not be cheap! Might be as much as $50 per person if we have to spend the night at their facility. Right now, I am just finding out if there is even enough interest in it to put in the effort.

I will open another thread for this question.

Del

Over the years, I have seen very few fossils for sale or on display from this site. I have heard that ammonites (and maybe a crab) are found there but all I've seen are well-preserved gastropods and one shark tooth.

[katfran]

Oh I definitely have run into this before. I can think of two very pretty fossils which are just sitting in peoples houses as decor rather than as a piece of a collection. One is a very large chunk of petrified wood which has a happy home as a door stop. The other is my brother inlaws, and it is a huge crinoid holdfast which is full of calcite crystallization. It is one of the most beautiful fossil from the area I've seen and it was only kept out of curiosity.

About 20 years ago my folks bought a house. The previous owners left a lot of stuff behind; mostly garbage and old things we had to then throw out... but up in what was to become my room were two huge chunks of petrified wood in the corner - I was delighted! At the same time I thought "how could anyone leave such treasures behind??" I don't know if they were found or purchased, but obviously no one cared to pack them up and take them with them so their unimpressed attitude was my bonanza gain. I still have them and

they still delight me.

kat

(but someday I will kick off and my kids will say "what is this stupid rock-thing" and it will wind up a doorstop somewhere...)

[FossilForKids]

I think its funny..when watching the sitcom "Two and a half men" I began noticing that in the background of almost every house there were huge fossil ammonites and belemnite slabs...I wonder if the director or producers are into fossils.

This pass spring I sold two Megs to a Hollywood producer.

[hybodus]

N.AL and Sitseer, Been quite some time since I collected coon Creek! Used to hang out with one of the curators from The Memphis Pink Palace Museum, and led a few club trips as well. Some spectacular fossils have come out of that locality. A really nice partial Mosasaur skull with jaws and teeth, and really nice lobsters, crabs and shrimp in addition to the gastropods and bivalves. Occasional shark and fish teeth as well.

Wish I still lived in the South and I would go with you. You very rarely see collectors selling this stuff as it is very unique in that the gastros and bivalves are original shell - no replacement!

N.AL - if you make the trip, you may want to make the drive to Memphis and request a tour of "the back of the museum" in advance to check out the coon Creek collection - it's worth the visit. The small educational area at the coon Creek facility has a few nice specimens, but nothing even close to the museum.

[Nandomas]

The guys at The Black Hills Institute in SD have a wonderful coon Creek fossil collection open to public. I really love those gastropods

I should like one day to have a chance to collect in Tennesse

Edited July 26, 2010 by Fossili Veraci

[Terry Dactyll]

I once saw an Ichthyosaur for sale on UK ebay for £12,000 so whats that $24,000, nice size about 6 foot in a nodule the shape of the critter and it even had ammonites resting amongst its remains.... trouble was I didnt have all that money to spend on a fossil.... I had fossils that could claw back that money and more over time if taken as a trade and sold to tourists by him (as he did the markets) , but the guy wanted the money.... (which you cant blame him) .... next time I saw him he had sold it to someone who wanted a 'fossil' on their wall.....so I just hope they appreciate their 'fossil'...

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

I have collected at coon Creek twice in the past. Both times we were allowed to dig into the bank. We did not do the spoil pile thing. I have around 30 different species from there. I have also visited the Pink Palace Museum a couple of times. Really nice, but small, fossil collection. But worth the visit if you are in Memphis.

I have no problems with anyone who wants to buy fossils and display them as decorative items in their homes. They are beautiful and interesting and artistic all at the same time.