Why I Started Selling Fossils

[RJB]

Im going to make this short. If I find it. Its mine. If i sell it, its my decisiion and not anyone elses. If you dont like it. Tuff!!!

RB

[Megalodon1]

I have sold some of my fossil shark teeth to some of my friends 50 cents to 1.oo depending on size and shape but just a few.i sold them because a have so many I needed to make room for some new stuff Ive found

Great idea!

[captain badlands]

hehehehe, i had to weigh in now that somebody linked to this thread.

I'm certainly not opposed to selling fossils, the fact is that the demand is there thus there will be a market. A little BST among enthusiasts is a great way to get stuff you normally couldnt because of distances, etc. What I'm against is what I call "rippers", persons who collect solely for the purpose of making money. It's because it reduces these fascinating pieces of history to a dollar value, and IMO fossils are worth so much more than paper or round pieces of metal. It also takes away from real enthusiasts and scientists. Selling fossils from my area is a big no-no anyways, so it is quite easy to distinguish the enthusiasts from the rippers. I ran a guy off of my "ultra secret" Orkney site earlier this year for being a ripper. The area he was digging in (yup, digging with a bloody shovel. you need a permit for that here) had a number of specimens that should have been photographed and jacketed. He had completely ruined a number of others by digging. I asked him why he would do such a thing, and his reply was "I cant sell an incomplete bone". Man did I blow a gasket! I wont elaborate on the methods, but I forced him to dump out his collecting pails and shovel back all the material he had disturbed, as well as removing the pop cans he threw on the ground (litterbugs make me extremely angry). Because I'm a vindictive nut, I (edited for content, your brain will have to fill in the blank) rental car (c'mon now - who the hell takes a car off road in the badlands?) and phoned the RCMP to complain about a driver with "a strong odor of cannabis about the vehicle". Yup, I gave them the liscence plate too. I have no problem blowing the whistle on douchebags like that, and I certainly hope the RC's stapled him to the wall.

[Frank Menser]

All I have to do is look at my shelves to relise the necessity of commercial collectors to my collecting efforts. To be honest, there are some sites I would never hunt because I lack the knowledge to recognise some material in the rough or learned the skills necessary to remove it and prep it without damaging the fossil. So I look at my Paleofish and thank the guy who had the knowledge and ability to enable me to have those great specimens.

Where I do rankle (as others above have said perhaps more eloquently than I) are the people who are so intent upon "harvesting" that they trash the site. Unfortunately this includes not just commercial collectors but amateurs as well that have to have 100+ of the same thing. Never could understand a non commercial collector with that many. I generally keep 5 or less good examples and give (or sell on occasion) my excess. It is the hunt for me.

I watched GMR in the course of one year, go from a place where I could make finds on a pretty regular basis to a badly over-erroded mess just from over collecting methods such as bank mining and the use of sump pumps by the greedy..

(well nuff said)

[silverphoenix]

Yeah, that would frustrate me as well. Here, it is legal to dig and I do so--but it's not for dino's! What I dig is very common marine material that there's a countless abundance of (same with the petrified wood). I actually started out buying with a $5 trilobite, ended with a $100 (Authentic) keicheosaur, and discovered that finding fossils is much more fun than buying them. I have nothing against doing either, as long as it's not only for the money. I myself only sell because I'm forced to really (parents yelling at me because the house is full of rocks and they want me to pay half my rent/girlfriend keeps telling me to sell them because she's tired of tripping over them). If it were up to me, I wouldn't sell them...but there's only so much space and chastising that I can take...

On another note, please do take in any specimen that you believe to be scientifically valuable to a university paleontologist or to a musuem--I do that myself, but do remember that museums cannot display every single specimen, and yes they have tons (most on display are casts by the way), so don't be dissappointed if your fossil never sees the light of day again, because unless it's something that's "VERY interesting" to see and will attract visitors, it probably will never get displayed. If it is researched, you probably will not get the credit. I say "if" it is researched since I know for a fact that much of this reseach is backlogged and so it might sit in a box in a basement somewhere for who knows how long, and it might possibly get lost or broken. Your best bet is finding a university professor that can tell you it's something new/scientifically valuable and assign a student to research it as a project (as is often done). And often scientific does not equate to commercial value--believe me, some of the stuff we have in the lab at A&M, not a one of you would give a dollar for and probably would not want, but the scientific value is tremendous.

[silverphoenix]

And yes, a good point is that there are good and bad commerical collectors--the ones who trash the sites and destroy specimens for profit (i.e. idiot for smashed a mososaur skull he found for its teeth and was selling them at a fossil show for $2 each--NO JOKE). There are good commercial collectors who know what they're doing and how to collect/preserve/prep fossils from sites that we cannot access or ourselves would do damage to if we tried to collect there. If they make a site known though, then there can be a "goldrush effect", which would devestate the site. It's a very mixed bag and why I say that I'll let all do as they see fit in this hobby, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I approve of it

Also, ameature collectors do cause a LOT of damage, but it's mainly through older, more experienced collectors that they find the site (and are illprepared to collect in it). For example, someone bringing their kids (which is great!), but not showing them how to properly collect and preserve specimens, and the site! Also, professors bringing fieldtrips to sites and the kids utterly destroying everything in site...as I saw where I dig when they were all screaming "I want to find a shark tooth!" (which are rare there and you have little or no chance of finding unless you are experienced with the site) and running all around me AND my equipment, tearing up my neatly exposed wall trying to find a shark tooth....I swear that's why I had to sift my backdirt for fossils and why I found some nice ones (newely damaged) that otherwise would have been in my wall and collected intact... No one is perfect though and everyone breaks fossils--it's just a matter of breaking how many and if you can put them back together. Sheesh I'm out of breath--going to rest now

[captain badlands]

the idiots do separate themselves from the group by their actions, and by that they will be judged. Most of us, noobs or otherwise stick to "the code". My instance was a clear case of some greedy idiot thinking he could make a buck while trashing the site, other instances are less obvious. It is up to the enthusiasts though to educate people about proper methods of collection, and respecting the sites. In the Drumheller area, littering is a HUGE problem - and it isnt just drunk kids smacsing bottles, we're talking about people throwing appliances from the lookouts. Last trip I found an entire oven! The Orkney area is especially bad, there is so much garbage we had to use a new route to the bottom of the valley...

[Afrikaner]

As you know I collect and sell Shark Teeth I find on the Beaches in Cape Town, I started about just over 2 Years ago and new nothing

about Shark Teeth.

I had a quite large Mineral Collection that was my Hobby for over 20Years and most of the Minerals I had to buy because I was not able to

to go to all those places around the Word where thoses Minerals are found.

So when I found my first Shark Tooth I got hooked, I spend hours on the Internet and bought Books to learn everything about them,

I also joined varios online Fossil Clubs to learn more and get help in indentifying the teeth I found.

I was so fazinated that I sold all my Minerals and Books to make Room for the Teeth I collected.

I also met over Time other Shark Tooth Collectors on the Beach but most of them where not serious Collectors and they ditn't have a clue about

Shark Teeth, theysold the Teeth to Tourists or even worse to Shops where they drill holes in them to make Pendants .

To prevent that I started to buy Teeth when my budget allowed it and as time went on I got more and more requests from Collectors

all over the World to buy Shark Teeth from me.

Needless to say that I have a very nice Collection by now and even it is hard to find good Teeth on the Beach I sell some of the good ones to

have Money to "rescue"some other ones . Thank you to all from the Fossil Forum that bought Teeth from me!

I also collect all kind of Bones and Mammal Teeth which I give to the Iziko Museum in Cape Town because by Law belong all Fossils to

the Goverment .

Werner

[Oh-Man]

I am sitting here watching the rain and thinking about this because of a conversation I had with a friend. Since I am trying to put off all of the things I should be doing, posting this seemed like a great idea. (By the way I found some killer stuff this weekend which I will post later if I can).

I was talking to a friend today that occasionally dives for fossils. He was saying that he would never sell any of his finds. I sometimes think that he thinks that I have less of an appreciation of or love for fossils than he does because I sell a lot of what I collect.

The thing is that I love the hunt for fossils as much as if not more than actually possessing them. When I got my boat and started diving locally for fossils I tried going out every weekend, but my wife thought that was overkill so it was more like once every other weekend. She thought that since I had a hundred or more Meg teeth, why go out every weekend and get more. She said (and she was correct) that there was no more room under the bed for any more boxes of fossils.

I told her that I would sell some to make room under the bed for new teeth. I remember her saying in disbelief "You think people are actually going to buy them?" I started selling a few on eBay and met some really cool collectors in the process. Because I was in the computer field I decided to try building a website. Because of the extra money that selling fossils brings in I now get to go diving up to four days a week instead of once every other weekend. Selling off many of them seems like a small price to pay for being able to go hunt for fossils that often. I still get to keep the cool stuff.

This week I dove Tues, Thurs, Fri Sat and today. I never get tired of it and I would go out again right now if I could. Now if only I could just shed that pesky job.

The thrill of the hunt...???

Well for me I certainly like finding cool stuff, but I enjoy getting out and hunting, whether alone, with my kids or with good friends, several of whom I've meet as a result of this forum. In fact if you want a hole dug in your yard just give me a shovel and tell me there is a fossil under there some place...

I don't expect to ever sell much of what I find since it isn't worth much. Instead my extras go to the kids programs at a couple of museums or to the boy/girl scouts. The beauty of that is they have to clean them - heh heh heh. I do give them pointers though and if they make them look better then the get a little better attached to them.

I suppose if I ever move back to FL where my fossil hunting started 35 years ago, then maybe I'll find a meg or two worth selling, but until them it's lots of TX cretaceous stuff and eocene fossil wood...

[captain badlands]

As you know I collect and sell Shark Teeth I find on the Beaches in Cape Town, I started about just over 2 Years ago and new nothing

about Shark Teeth.

I had a quite large Mineral Collection that was my Hobby for over 20Years and most of the Minerals I had to buy because I was not able to

to go to all those places around the Word where thoses Minerals are found.

So when I found my first Shark Tooth I got hooked, I spend hours on the Internet and bought Books to learn everything about them,

I also joined varios online Fossil Clubs to learn more and get help in indentifying the teeth I found.

I was so fazinated that I sold all my Minerals and Books to make Room for the Teeth I collected.

I also met over Time other Shark Tooth Collectors on the Beach but most of them where not serious Collectors and they ditn't have a clue about

Shark Teeth, theysold the Teeth to Tourists or even worse to Shops where they drill holes in them to make Pendants .

To prevent that I started to buy Teeth when my budget allowed it and as time went on I got more and more requests from Collectors

all over the World to buy Shark Teeth from me.

Needless to say that I have a very nice Collection by now and even it is hard to find good Teeth on the Beach I sell some of the good ones to

have Money to "rescue"some other ones . Thank you to all from the Fossil Forum that bought Teeth from me!

I also collect all kind of Bones and Mammal Teeth which I give to the Iziko Museum in Cape Town because by Law belong all Fossils to

the Goverment .

Werner

I would trade both kidneys to visit South Africa.... I am especially interested in Afrikaans, it is an interesting language.....

[Afrikaner]

I would trade both kidneys to visit South Africa.... I am especially interested in Afrikaans, it is an interesting language.....

You better keep your Kidneys you might still need them .

Afrikaans is made up of different languages but similar to dutch,

to my german ears it sounds sometimes funny but yea come and visit us one day and we go hunting

and smoke some Zigarettes on the Beach, you get a Carton for about 25US Dollar here,the cheap ones for about 13US .

Werner

[brachiomyback]

I am far from being a “significant” fossil collector and never even thought of selling fossils or for that matter buying a fossil. I feel it is more satisfying / rewarding to find your own fossils…. or to trade your efforts for those that logistically you can’t obtain. Yeah, if I had a million dollars to spend, I’m sure I could build a nice addition to my home to display a nice “purchased” collection; however, it would not be as satisfying.

Even though my finds may be merger and probably laughable to more experienced collectors (ie belemnites, shells), I am proud of my collection regardless. I feel any fossil is a good fossil. I’ve only been collecting shark teeth for about two years now and am one of the few hunters at the Green Mill Run (North Carolina) who uses a ¼ inch screen (with a graduated ½” on top). Most tend to go for the big stuff and I tend to collect everything I find and keep the more unique / better conditioned finds. My “extras” have always gone to my nephews and nieces as Christmas gifts and have always received a more heart felt “thank you” that with my prior normal gifts. You can’t buy these at Wal-Mart, but if you lucky, you might find some behind one…LOL.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?showtopic=7105

My daughter recently had a three day “Dinosaur Camp” at her school. I made 22 individual Zip-Locks full of Green Mill Run Shark Teeth extras and another with some Tennessee brachiopods extras to give out to the class. I also put a package together for the teacher with some of my meager fossil finds for a “hands on experience” for them (whale vertebra, larger whale rib bone and some small megs). As expected, the teacher stated it was a HUGE success. She even asked if she could use my collection next year when the middle schools subject material is on an oceanic theme. Share the wealth and knowledge to the future because you never know if your impact causes them to become a famous scientist / archeologist / paleontologist / geologist…etc.

FYI….Get to know your children’s teachers.

http://www.afmfriends.org/Education/tabid/66/Default.aspx

This is good way to incorporate / talk about / share your fossil collection with your children’s / grand children’s school.

I see no reason why private / commercial collectors can’t sell their finds. The only problem I have is how you go about collecting them. There has been some issues recently in the Low County (South Carolina), Peace River (Florida) and I’m sure many other areas where collectors have be using “destructive” techniques get their finds (with some idiots posting themselves in action).

Treat the land and water accordingly to pass on collection sites to future collectors. I try NOT to practice “Pack it in – Pack it out”, but rather “Pack it in – Pack more out”. See an empty water bottle, trash that is not yours, pick it up too.

- Brad

[Foram-Mike]

Hi,

the discussion seems to have died out, nonetheless I just want to add an argument:

Fossils are findings definitely not made by the finder. So the question arises, under which conditions a find may be taken into private possession.

According to my and I think also a general jurisdictional view is, that findings of importance for the general public (as e.g. for world wide science) may not be transferred into private and thus exclusive possession of a single person. So a mayor find has to been shown to a local museum, scientific institution in order to decide, whether the find is of public interest or not.

I would assume that most of your findings as shark teeth are not of public interest as they are very abundant, well researched and in the storage of many museums.

But I recommend to keep in mind, that many important and unique findings of fossils and archaeological remnants have been destroyed, altered, manipulated or are simply lost in total to mankind now and in the whole future - due to gready collectors, people in need of money ...

Don't be part of them, even if you would make the best deal of your life. Share a small, representative bit of your findings with a local museum.

Foram-Mike

[megateeth]

I have been away with my family for two weeks and was surprised to see this thread still active. My blackberry has been my only connection to the net so forgive any typos. I can hardly read what I am typing.

Most of our collections will outlast us and our survivors may not think as much of our collections as we do.

So many of the purists that say they would never sell their collections may have it sold off some day. We can try to make other arrangements but not many of our collections are really significant.

I have some great shark teeth but not many would be of any real interest to a museum.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

I've made my share of museum donations, but from time to time museums approach me with money in hand, foregoing the donation request....no one has to hit me over the head twice with that one! In one case I had multiple example of a new species of echinoid, sold one of the lesser specimens to a museum, now they'll be writing it up and putting my name on the species....can't hate that! In many cases I'm content to just look at my finds and show them to friends and family, but if I have multiples, and somebody approaches me "sufficiently motivated", then what the heck, twist my arm...but money aside, I'm really all about the planning and execution of my self styled field adventures and basking in that special moment of serendipitous discovery of an exotic specimen or virgin site. Sometimes people make large or even blank check offers, some of which I have turned down as sentimental value is too great. Have fun poking around this weekend...I know I will!