gwestbrook Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 Wow! That's an awesome trip! Would love to do something like that myself. Great story and great photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeon.rocks Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 (edited) Great report, thank you for sharing! Thanks for PM and letting me know about it aswell! You had a very good guide, have had the pleasure to meet Mohamed and his father last year. I see you got some nice bugs and wish you luck with preparation! Now, when you have experienced how much work and effort goes into finding these amazing Moroccan bugs, I am pretty sure you will learn to appreciate the other part, getting them out of the rock, aswell. Should be fun though. PS: Since no-one answered you Prem: "I am curious -- say you are not a prepper at all...can you deposit the unprepped trilos with a local, skilled prepper and pay X dollars to have them finish it out for you and ship? Would it be less expensive than, say, a completed bug that has been found, prepped and shipped by a local distributor?" Short answer: No. Most of the money is in preparation, not in finding, although unpreped material is not exactly cheap neither. Long answer: Not sure why someone would want to go to Morocco, find trilobites and leave them there to have em preped and then shipped? A lot of additional costs involved. Wouldn`t it be simpler to just buy a preped one there or anywhere? Doubt it would be less expensive to have em preped as say, completed bug that has been found, prepped and sold by Moroccan sellers at your local fossil-shows, and you can get some of these commercialy preped even on ebay for a few XY dollars... Most species mentioned in the report, when preped commercialy, are sold quite cheap in the western market (even a bit cheaper in Morocco) compared to all the work and effort involved in finding and preping them, problem is most people just don`t realize all the efforts involved when they see a 40$ Moroccan trilo offered for sale. Quality has its price though, and with that in mind I still doubt, you will be able to find a skilled preper (in Morocco or anywhere) who would prep them for much less as sold by some local distributors (when you sum up the price of the trip, guide, shipping, prep-costs etc.). Of course any distributor will take their cut of the price, but most distributors buy fossils in bulk for a wholesale lower price/piece to make their profit margin per piece worthwhile. Personal finds can have a more subjective note, but unless we are talking about one or a few specimens (that you pay for to have preped), it`s not a cheap scenario I guess. I seriously doubt also, that you would find any skilled prepers who would be willing to prep a spiny trilo for much less as you can get already completed one for... Don`t forget about molts and damaged specimens involved, so in the end, when you calculate all costs and if you don`t live in Morocco, it`s probably still much cheaper to buy specimens that you like for a retail price from local distributors or if you go to Morocco - from local prepers and distributors there! I know a few guys who order a bunch of Moroccan trilobites unpreped and realized it would be better to buy them preped, would probably even get them for a similar price. Ended selling them unpreped. There is some fun in preping them yourself however, but lots of skills and time involved in good preps and not to forget some quite expensive equipment... Edited April 16, 2016 by aeon.rocks 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifbrindacier Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Very nice trip and finds. The moroccans are friendly with tourists, wether you're american or not, they don't care. They are berbers and they consider the tourists as guests. "On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) "We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes." In memory of Doren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesuslover340 Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Very entertaining trip report! From what I see in the pictures, I would say your experience is quite reminiscent of my own at Black Cat Mountain...very hard limestone; really hard to find decent trilos. "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."-Romans 14:19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeon.rocks Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 (edited) Moroccans are very friendly people indeed! Btw., it`s always good to be careful when in the market for trilos, but experienced dealers like Mohamed (young fella on last photo) are very honest and trustworthy. "Black Cat Mountain...very hard limestone; really hard to find decent trilos." BCM matrix is softer as most Moroccan matrix, it`s really hard work to split these hard limestones and find decent trilos and prep em. Edited April 16, 2016 by aeon.rocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trilobyter Posted April 20, 2016 Author Share Posted April 20, 2016 I've finally had a chance to start prepping some of the bugs from this trip. Thanks to aeon.rocks for the very helpful tips. Here's a prep sequence of a partially enrolled Phacops from Issoumour. Took about 3 hours on the scribe and 2 hours with air abrasion to get to the final product. Totally agree with aeon.rocks comments earlier - probably cheaper to just buy the prepped bugs than go and collect/prep them yourself, but they sure are fun to prep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Nice job, but don't you think you could tickle out a bit more from underneath? How much pressure did you use with the abrader? Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Good work, keep it coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeon.rocks Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Good job! Wish you luck with the rest. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Wow, Great trip report. Really makes me want to over there and collect myself. The amount of work that goes into the collecting and prepping is incredible. -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeon.rocks Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 (edited) Yeah, I wonder if trilobyter would sell this for 20$ now, like in Morocco. Edited April 21, 2016 by aeon.rocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifbrindacier Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 You had a very exciting trip, thanks for the post. "On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) "We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes." In memory of Doren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trilobyter Posted April 21, 2016 Author Share Posted April 21, 2016 Ludwigia - yes, I probably could have removed a bit more from the bottom, but I didn't want to risk detaching the bug completely from the base. Plus it would have added more hours to the prep...and I'm lazy. I'm pretty happy with the way it is now. I started at 40 PSI with dolomite, but then upped it 50 and then eventually 60. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeon.rocks Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Patience! Try working with scribes as far as it goes, blast less, with lower presure, prep time goes up, but so does fine-detail preservation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDudeCO Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 Nice looking prep! Can't wait to see a few more, great pics as alwasy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trilobyter Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 Here another bug I prepped this weekend - a small Gerastos. At first I wasn't sure it was complete, but I'm glad I kept it! It can probably use a bit more air abrasion but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 You're doing good work, I'd pay more for what I see right here than most of the jobs I see coming out of Morocco. I guess they're working in bulk so they have to hurry... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Well done! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trilobyter Posted April 27, 2016 Author Share Posted April 27, 2016 Finished another prep last night. This was the Hollardops I found as float at Issoumour. Thought it would be an easy prep but the matrix turned out to be super sticky. Lesson learned - not all matrix is made alike, even if its from from the same location! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 Too bad those spines are missing, but it looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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