Estate Sale Find

[Cris]

There was an estate sale going on nearby earlier today, so I decided to go check it out. Apparently, before this guy passed away, he loved to collect things. When I entered the place, I noticed boxes and boxes full of shells, minerals, stamps and a small box of fossils. I looked through some of the fossils thinking "junk, junk, junk", and just as I went to slide the box back under the table, I saw this little piece of paper at the bottom. It reads:

Ky 42 | Before Herrods Creek

Outside Louisville, Ky.

Fossil remains from rock

ledges (road cut)

Thurs. 20 21 Aug '47

How cool! A fossil label from 63 years ago! To me, that made the relatively useless fossils much more interesting. Fossil hunting is a rare hobby nowadays...I bet it was even rarer back then. There were more boxes with fossils in them - even nicer fossils than the lot from '47. But none of them had any kind of labels.

Anyways, this got me to thinking... The fossils aren't special at all.. but what a perfect lesson for us...We need to LABEL OUR FOSSILS. If this individual would have failed to add any kind of label to this lot, these fossils would have been scattered around a tree somewhere and burred again. I wouldn't have even thought about putting down a penny on them if it wasn't for the label (and the couple of FL artifacts the guy probably threw in the box from his garden). I admit...I have a hard time documenting my finds sometimes. This has given me a little push to make sure to label the stuff I find.

-Cris

[tracer]

i have a "system". i call it "tj's problem"...

[barefootgirl]

I really need to start doing that. I always think that I'll remember till I pull out a box and realize I forgot to remember.

[Taxman56]

I'm just as bad with milk crates of stuff and maybe a note in the box or on the newspaper and there probably all unreadable by now.

I lucked out for 5 bucks and bought a ton of fern, shell and shark teeth fossils I found in a basement estate sale with no names. And a dozen arrow heads with no idea if they were collected locally in South NJ or elsewhere. Guessing the ferns were from pa. Still a great buy. Teeth had marl on them so I'm thinking local, it could be Inversand. And 50 years ago they used to find a ton of arrow heads all over the local farm fields.

[jpc]

That's a cool find... the 1947 label. I always try to add least include a piece of paper in the bag or box with minimum info. I often choose to leave out the date, but this may make me think twice about it. What if I get hit by a bus tomorrow.

Remember this too, my friends, a label on your goodies makes them a whole ton more interesting to the local museum. Should you, of course, be hit by a bus tomorrow.

[MikeD]

That's cool!

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=38.327652,-85.624995&spn=0.016799,0.038581&t=h&z=15

[Coco]

I no more rely on my memory for a long time. Because I believed for a long time that I shall remember myself where come from my bags of sediments, my boxes with teeth of sharks or sea urchins, and then regularly I rediscover things without labels. I do not know any more where from that comes (because sometimes there are several deposits in the same region in which we find the same things). Not beautiful to age

Coco

[fossiljunkie]

once i realized how disorganized it could be, i simply found that using various size cardboard flats when i find any quantity of fossils, and a quick post- it note thrown in the box with location and date was all that was needed until i found time to label any good finds later on.

it works for me and quick without a lot of work involved. then i made an easy template for fossil trays and i use posterboard to layout the tray patterns and cut out the quantity i need later on when i have time.a small piece of tape on all four corners and you have very inexpensive trays and organized fossils. i found this works for me until i save the money involved to have everything in riker boxes.

[Hawkeye]

There was an estate sale going on nearby earlier today, so I decided to go check it out. Apparently, before this guy It reads:

Ky 42 | Before Herrods Creek

Outside Louisville, Ky.

Fossil remains from rock

ledges (road cut)

Thurs. 20 21 Aug '47

How cool! A fossil label from 63 years ago! To me, that made the relatively useless fossils much more interesting. Fossil hunting is a rare hobby nowadays...I bet it was even rarer back then. There were more boxes with fossils in them - even nicer fossils than the lot from '47. But none of them had any kind of labels.

-Cris

That's very cool Cris. I would have had to buy that lot because I know exactly where that roadcut is. I delivered pizzas up and down US 42 for 3 years in college and went over Harrods Creek countless times. More of the cut was exposed in later years when they ended the Gene Snyder Freeway.

Cool Find!

[Auspex]

The "historical" aspect is very appealing, and all it took was a scrap of paper with basic info noted.

[jason longboard]

Oh man here we go. Ive bypassed 3 recent estate sales in my area because I used to collect old or new tobacco pipes and cigar related items. I thinned out my stuff and mostly kept what I use. I dont go to them because I normally see more of that stuff and end up with it all over again lol.

So these last few times, I thought in my mind, surely I would not find fossils at these, assuming the family would have jumped all over any worth while items such as our topic. Now Im kicking myself because you just never do know do you. Well that was a nice find for you and thanks for the motivation to not get lazy on documenting our finds.

[Scylla]

I've recently packed away the half of my collection that isn't still in my parent's garage and moved it into storage in preparation for moving. That was a good time to label as many things as I could remember and my collection is much better off because of it. I plan to label and consolidate things more when I unpack. I wish I got into the habit 30 or 40 yrs ago