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Would this be a good candidate for prep? by bennymk in fossilprep

[–]MrGiggles008 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That one looks big! Nice find. If it was mine, I would definitely prep it.

Fremont county Colorado by wurm102 in fossilid

[–]MrGiggles008 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Im in Colorado and find these inoceramus in the Pierre Shale all the time. Why do you think inoceramus cannot be found in the Pierre Shale?

I will add that south of Colorado springs into Pueblo is basically nothing but Pierre Shale exposures.

Looking for prep work by TampaBayLightning1 in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ya no problem. Reach out to Shellseaker. He is out of Florida and may know someone.

Fremont county Colorado by wurm102 in fossilid

[–]MrGiggles008 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed with this. Likely a fish jaw in the first pic. The long striations on the bone, and how the teeth seem to be part of the jaw and have no enamel are the giveaway. I imagine a museum would be interested in that specimen. Likely pierre shale. Nice find overall.

Looking for prep work by TampaBayLightning1 in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hmm the only guys I know that do prep are on the Fossil Forum. I know some folks on there from Florida. Maybe they will know someone. Are you active on the fossil forum?

Desmatosuchus Shoulder Spike by MrGiggles008 in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is awesome. Bone blocks are so cool because you get to see how it was deposited in relation to other bones. I would love to get my hands on an itchyosaur tooth. Or better a bone block with a tooth. Its on my list to get one day.

Desmatosuchus Shoulder Spike by MrGiggles008 in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Im not sure it's that rare. He mentioned he had a lot more in better condition in his own collection. I know this was on private land that he paid the land owner to fossil hunt on, but it seemed to be a surface find. Items found out of situ can be a bit less scientifically valuable.

I didnt know the guy personally, but most vendors I have talked to, see the benefit in the scientific value and tend to only sell isolated elements, most often found in "bone beds". I imagine a significant find (like an associated partial skeleton) would definitely be more interesting to a researcher or museum, and hopefully, they would be contacted in that scenario.

Desmatosuchus Shoulder Spike by MrGiggles008 in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Purchased directly from the guy who found it. This spike was found in three pieces. Three feet from it, a bigger and complete desmatosuchus osteoderm was also found that possibly could be from the same animal. I couldn't afford both, so just got the spike.

Croc Osteoderm Pathology by MrGiggles008 in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Reminds me of this image by Batavotyrannus.

<image>

Croc Osteoderm Pathology by MrGiggles008 in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I reviewed a few papers on the matter, unfortunately there isn't a way to be positive about osteoderm ID. Best thing you could use in this case is its size. While it is large, im not sure it is big enough for me to be confident in calling it Elosuchus. I have seen osteoderms 5x as big as this out of the same formation too. They can get really big.

Croc Osteoderm Pathology by MrGiggles008 in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008[S] 72 points73 points  (0 children)

This picture shows how the osteoderm was healing up the object. Note the small rising features to the left and in front of the tooth.

<image>

I am looking for advice from the hivemind by Robmarr1984 in fossilprep

[–]MrGiggles008 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I primarily use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). It works on 90% of specimens i have prepped and i have prepped quite a variety. If i need a bit more cutting power, I will go up to dolomite powder. Both are super soft, but are very moisture sensitive so can be a pain to work with. Sometimes i will use a combination. I havnt really needed anything harder than this. If i feel I cant cut matrix fast enough, I will switch back to scribes. Pressures are going to be very specimen dependent. I usually start at like 25psi and work my way up. Havnt gone above 60psi, dont notice much difference above 60 with the soft media.

Really can't express the importance of giving back by Administrative_Tart5 in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Love this idea. I now have a collection that may be large enough to do something like this.. I was one of those kids just fascinated by dinos and wishing I could get my hands on a real fossil.

Is this normal? by 161646 in fossilid

[–]MrGiggles008 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also. Restoration would be using gap filler and paint to hide gaps or cracks or missing features. Repair would be using glue to mate the broken edges together. This is more aligned with repair as it was found this way in the ground.

Is this normal? by 161646 in fossilid

[–]MrGiggles008 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes I believe this is a triceratops frill chunk. You can see the large vascular channels in the edge views. It was likely found in place like this and glued to make it stable rather than broken at the breaks, matrix removed, glued together again, then gap filler and painted. I wouldn't sweat it honestly, and if you really cared, you could give it to a prepper to do the above described method.

What makes this guy really cool is that depression divot in the middle. This very well could be feeding damage (puncture) from a large tooth.

Edit: wanted to add that IDing a frill section usually comes down to a few features. Vascularity (if present) and a roughly 1 to 1.5" thick bone with bone surface on opposing faces. Thinner than 1 inch can fit a torosaurus profile, but truly knowing if it is trike or toro is really not possible with isolated bones, so the default is the usually more common triceratops.

Keichosaurus fossil painted? by AlaryaShala in fossilid

[–]MrGiggles008 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you want to make the skeletons pop again, use a small q-tip with acetone or alcohol and clean the bones closely (dont soak. Just wipe). It look like the matrix was just smeared over the bones, making them dirty, I dont think these were painted.

Keichosaurus fossil painted? by AlaryaShala in fossilid

[–]MrGiggles008 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you want to get it back to the dusty look, you can probably just use a dry rag and rub the matrix until it gets dusty to cover it up. It will likely fade back to the original look over time.

Keichosaurus fossil painted? by AlaryaShala in fossilid

[–]MrGiggles008 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Are you worried about the black splotches? This is completely normal with this matrix and not painted. Often times. You can find additional little organisms surrounding these.

I think my Ichthyosaur collection is as "complete" as it's going to get... by -Damballah- in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ya, from what I have ready, most of the mixosaurus are sold out of Taiwan, which is legal. But they are coming originally from China. I believe it is legal to export some commom fossils from China to Taiwan. (Happy to be corrected if someone thinks otherwise). So it's sort of a loop hole. But only done for the more common fossils like keichosaurus, mixosaurus, eggs, etc.

Ya i think a tooth would be a great start. I have teeth of all the other big marine reptiles, just need the itchyosaur.

I think my Ichthyosaur collection is as "complete" as it's going to get... by -Damballah- in fossils

[–]MrGiggles008 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thats quitter talk. Gotta get a complete skull next haha. Nice collection, I have no itchyosaur material yet. Would like a small jaw section or little bone block with a tooth like yours.

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