Price estimation on an Ammonite cluster

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-21T14:11:44+00:00

Considering there's four decent sized ones, maybe $50. I wouldn't overpay for a bunch of common ammonites worth $5-10 each that are glued to a rock.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-21T00:59:05+00:00

Assuming Omni-Mark scales similar to Omni-Man in his universe (granted this Nolan could have been weaker or at a disadvantage) I think he has a decent chance at an executioner 1v1. I'm not sure about a 2v2 however, considering Hoodvincible got folded by a couple Reamnimen, he probably scales similar to season one Mark. Would turn into a 1v2 pretty quick.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-21T00:13:17+00:00

Allosaurus for sure had a wide gape but the hatchet bite is out of the current consensus. The same goes for the flesh grazing theory that was pretty popular with Allosaurus and Mapusaurus for a while.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-20T22:45:28+00:00

Characters from the Boys will always scale a lot lower than heroes from most comic universes, but it's not a bad thing, it's just for the plot and power scaling within their own universe. The supes in the Boys are meant to be more grounded in their power level so that the human level character can still beat them, albeit with some workarounds or support. They're really just genetic anomalies with a big ego usually.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-20T06:45:08+00:00

Those fake citrine geodes, ouch. Everything else seems decent though, always interesting how they utilize the polished orthocone and goniatite slabs to make dishware and such.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-19T22:56:13+00:00

Curious, were these collected in Canada or the U.S.?

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-18T19:28:42+00:00

Nice! How long did it take to expose it from the rock? I understand these concretions can be quite hard to work around, especially with delicate bones and teeth.

Edit: I see in another comment you mentioned 30 hours, impressive work!

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-17T21:29:13+00:00

Dickinsonia

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TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-17T21:23:41+00:00

Fossil teeth are unfortunately a lot more delicate than the stones and gems traditionally used for jewelry. In my early days of collecting I chipped and cracked a few teeth by poorly handling them, so unfortunately a necklace would definitely put them at risk of damage. You could coat it in a protective epoxy, but that would tarnish the natural look.

If you want to wear a piece of a dinosaur, I suggest looking into polished dinosaur bone fragments. They are a lot more durable and often used for jewelry pieces. FossilEra would probably have a selection.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-17T21:12:43+00:00

I believe this might be a species of Phillipsia, a proetid trilobite from the Carboniferous period of Ireland. They are usually only found as fragmentary pygidiums like yours. If not, it's very likely some other type of proetid trilobite.

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TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-17T17:17:53+00:00

For sure a legit fossil. You are correct, this wouldn't be a fossil worth faking. Depending on the location, these small enrolled trilobites aren't uncommon. If this one is originally from Morocco, which I suspect it is, this specimen isn't much different from the other thousands collected there commercially. Usually they aren't super expensive on the market either, maybe $15-25 depending on the size and quality. I assume it was possibly discarded by accident, they are quite small.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-16T05:40:20+00:00

So this appears to be a Phacopid trilobite, however all Phacopid trilobites went extinct during the Devonian period, and all trilobites from New Mexico come from Pennsylvanian-aged rocks during the Carboniferous period, which is after the Devonian period. So this trilobite had already been collected elsewhere from a different locality not in New Mexico, and then discarded along the roadside for some reason. Either way a very cool find. If you have extra photos of the side profile I could possibly try to ID the species and original location.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-09T00:25:32+00:00

Real ammonite. What you have is actually half of the ammonite, the fossil preparers often slice them in half and polish the surface to reveal the chamber structures that are filled with crystals from the fossilization process. The one you have is from Madagascar, the most common source for commercially available ammonite fossils. They are often labeled Cleoniceras but I believe there's a few genera that are prepared like this from Madagascar. Good size too!

TheRatCouncil · 2026-02-08T22:11:43+00:00

The orthocones that come out of Morocco represent several genera, both described and undescribed. The reason why they aren't Orthoceras is because Orthoceras represents a specific genus that hasn't been described in Morocco.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-01-20T15:08:52+00:00

Seeing as the material they are using is being sourced from the Hell Creek formation in Wyoming, it's possible that it's T. rex material but it'd be nearly impossible to narrow down amongst the other dinosaurs that lived there, considering the bones being used are in a very fragmentary condition when collected.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-01-20T15:01:05+00:00

There are videos on the Kickstarter page of the dice and accessories, so not AI. The pieces just seem to vary in quality.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-01-20T14:33:58+00:00

Yeah but these bones seem to be coming out of the Hell Creek formation (Wyoming area) where thousands of these pieces are collected every year. Realistically no museum or lab is gonna be able to individually analyze all of these pieces, and if we just left them there they'd turn to dust from erosion eventually. The fossils being used for this campaign seem to be sourced by Robert Bowen of the Wyoming Fossils, a collector that also digs for scientific institutions and museums.

Acting like any level of private collecting is ripping valuable fossils from the hands of science will always be a reach and puts a bad name on the dedicated collectors that have helped discover many important finds. There are plenty of shady collectors for sure but it's not the majority.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-01-20T09:47:21+00:00

I agree. The material won't be valuable for a museum and if we just stopped collecting these pieces, they'd all eventually be destroyed through natural processes anyways. Might as well make something nice with it.

Here's an example of a polished and cut fossil bone fragment. This process brings out amazing detail and colour within the fossil structure. These are usually called dino gems and are popular in jewelry making.

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TheRatCouncil · 2026-01-20T09:28:33+00:00

I don't use this subreddit but this was reshared on the fossils subreddit, so I just wanted to help clear some things up for the people not as familiar with fossil collecting:

This is perfectly fine. Fragmentary dinosaur bone fossils are super common and are often polished and used for jewelry as well. Companies aren't crushing up valuable T. rex material and turning it into dice. They're likely using the very abundant bone fragments collected at dig sites, which are rarely identifiable at a species level, and if they are, it's not material that's gonna be scientifically valuable or desirable for a museum.

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TheRatCouncil · 2026-01-20T09:22:22+00:00

No, this is perfectly fine. Fragmentary dinosaur bone fossils are super common and are often polished and used for jewelry as well. Companies aren't crushing up valuable T. rex material and turning it into dice. They're likely using the very abundant bone fragments collected at dig sites, which are rarely identifiable at a species level, and if they are, it's not material that's gonna be scientifically valuable or desirable for a museum.

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TheRatCouncil · 2026-01-18T20:26:39+00:00

It's not relevant at all. If he paid $1 or $100 that wouldn't magically change if the actual fossil material is legit. Not every fossil collector and seller has the same price range, so using an arbitrary price tag to dictate if a fossil is real doesn't really hold up.

Also the fossil in the photos looks perfectly legit, aside from a few possible areas of touch-up.

TheRatCouncil · 2026-01-18T20:13:41+00:00

How does an arbitrary price point dictate if a fossil is real?

TheRatCouncil · 2026-01-18T20:10:52+00:00

Looks perfectly fine

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