@fossilera / fossilera.tumblr.com
That is quite a pile of packages going out the door today (so far). Our shipping team is doing an incredible job working through the backlog of Black Friday orders. They got over 260 packages yesterday and probably just as many will ship today.
This is a nicely preserved, 5.1" long Cockerellites (Priscacara) liops fish from the famous 18 inch layer of the Green River Formation. It was collected from Lindgren Quarry near Kemmerer, Wyoming.
50 million years ago, in the Eocene, these fish thrived in Fossil Lake, which was fed by Uinta and Rocky Mountain highlands. The anoxic conditions at the bottom of Fossil Lake slowed bacterial decomposition, prevented scavengers from disturbing corpses, and most interestingly, suffocated creatures that ventured into the oxygen-starved aquatic layer. The result is a miraculous exhibition of Eocene biota in a subtropical aquatic community within sycamore forests teeming with creatures such as freshwater stingrays, dog-sized horses, menacing alligators, early flying bats, and one of the first primates.
Gorgeous enamel and razor sharp serrations on this 6.35" long, fossil Megalodon tooth. I really like how the enamel color transitions from tan/grey near the edges to a deep blue in the center of the blade.
This is a one-of-a-kind, jaw dropping, dark amethyst crystal geode on a large custom metal stand. This gargantuan geode was carefully extracted from the hard basalt formations near Artigas, Uruguay. It was then masterfully prepared by the local expert craftsman to create this natural work of art.
There are eight different viewing windows into this beast of a geode, with one cavity at the right side containing a cluster of calcite crystals. The "rind" of each window has been polished to a glossy finish, the largest of which is 17" wide. On the custom display stand it is 62", or just over five feet tall! The geode itself measures 41" tall, 33" wide, (longest horizontal measurement) and at its thickest point measures approximately 13".
For sale at: https://www.fossilera.com/minerals-for-sale/amethyst
This is an absolutely stunning, 14.6" wide ammonite (Placenticeras costatum) fossil preserved entirely in precious ammolite. It is in excellent condition with a tremendous amount of flash, very vivid colors and well pronounced ribbing. It comes from the lower layers of the Bearpaw shale at the Korite mine in Southwest Alberta. This layer produces the highest quality, ammolite gemstones.
A group of monster, 6"+ Megalodon teeth that just arrived along with several hundred smaller megs. They arrived just in time as we have been blowing through our remaining inventory of large meg teeth with all the holiday sales. The teeth are collected by commercial divers in over 100 feet of water off the coast of North Carolina. These teeth were originally buried in the ocean sediments several million years ago and then became fossilized. They were then subsequently uncovered due to wave actions, and can be found on what the divers refer to as "The Ledges". Six inchers are fairly rare (despite the fact their are eight of them in the photo) and came from super-sized adult sharks. Divers will typically find hundreds of meg teeth for every 6 inch one.
Ok, we thought this was a fun piece. It an amethyst & agate geode that has been carved into a 9" long, dinosaur skull. The detail on this piece is exquisite. We just added it to FossilEra.com and it has Black Friday sale pricing along with everything else on the website. Roar!
This is a large, serrated, 3.21" long tooth of a Carcharodontosaurus from the Late Cretaceous, Kem Kem Beds of Morocco. Carcharodontosaurus was a massive predatory dinosaur larger than Tyrannosaurus rex, though unrelated.
This is a stunning, 17.5 x 14", polished stromatolite (Greysonia) section from the Miraflores Formation from Bolivia. One face has been cut and polished while the other side shows the natural, exterior to the stromatolite.
Stromatolites are the layered trace fossils of microbial life, primarily cyanobacteria. Some of them date back an astounding 3.4 billion years, making them the oldest record of life on planet Earth. Stromatolites and Microbialites were typically formed in shallow water by the growth of layer upon layer of cyanobacteria, a single-celled, photosynthesizing microbe. These layers often form very beautiful, and colorful banded structures in the rock.
Charoite is a fairly rare, translucent lavender to purple mineral that is strictly massive (it does not form individual crystals) in nature. It is found in only one single area in the Sakha Republic in Siberia. The stone has an unusual swirling, fibrous appearance and is sometimes chatoyant effect.
Charoite available at: https://www.fossilera.com/minerals-for-sale/polished-charoite
This is a beautiful, 3.35" long, trilobite (Crotalocephalina gibbus) fossil from Atchana, Morocco. It has been prepared in a "flying" pose by removing nearly all of the surrounding limestone. This leaves it floating above the rock on a pedestal. The preparation takes lot of time but the results are quite spectacular.
This is a truly spectacular ammonite fossil (Placenticeras meeki), collected from the Bearpaw Shale of Alberta, Canada (collected Fall, 2017). It's entirely preserved in brilliant ammolite, an iridescent, opal-like gemstone and features perforations (bite marks) left by a giant Mosasaur.
These complete, ammolite preserved, ammonite fossils are rare. The Canadian government considers them part of the “National Treasures of Canada”. For this reason, all complete specimens must be inspected and registered by the Alberta provincial government prior to being allowed to leave the province.
For sale at: https://www.fossilera.com/fossils-for-sale/ammolite
A spectacular, 10.5" plate of twelve detailed fossil crinoids and a gastropod of the species Platyceras acutirostre (#93), collected from Crawfordsville, Indiana. These fossils have been microscopically prepared using air abrasives, revealing their intricate details and three dimensional preservation.
It is believed that crinoids from the Ramp Creek Limestone were buried in sediment from nearby deltas during storms. The resulting siltstone deposits are soft enough that fossils can be extracted in exquisite, three-dimensional relief.
This is a stunning, 15.5" long fossilized pectoral fin of a large swordfish (Protosphyraena). It was collected from the Cretaceous age Smoky Hill Chalk (Niobrara Formation) in Gove County, Kansas, making this fossil approximately 83 million years old. The preservation of this fin is impressive to say the least, with fine grooves that run parallel to the edge and an posterior fin edge that resembles a serrated blade. When viewing the edge of the rock, a cross section of the swordfish can be seen within.
Libyan Desert glass is a type of tektite/impactite, is a canary yellow, glass-like mineral that is formed when silica is exposed to extreme heat and pressure. Libyan Desert glass is believed to have origins involving a meteor shower in the Sahara Desert nearly 29 million years ago. For many years scientists have believed that the mineral is the result of an extremely large air-blast, roughly 100 megatons, caused by an explosion in space near earth’s atmosphere. After extensive analysis, scientists have discovered that Libyan Desert glass is indeed created by meteor impacts.
We have lots of libyan desert glass available for sale at: https://www.fossilera.com/minerals-for-sale/libyan-desert-glass-impactite
This is a very impressive, articulated skeleton of a small Oreodont (Miniochoerus gracilis) collected from the White River Formation of Converse County, Wyoming. This formation is Oligocene in age, making this fossil roughly 32 million years old! In addition to the exceptional and complete preservation, this unique fossil features the oreodont in burrow position, with front legs/arms tucked underneath its body.
This is a fossil clam (Mercenaria permagna) from the the famous Ruck's Pit quarry in Florida. The interior of the clam is filled with golden-yellow calcite crystals which are highly fluorescent under both short and long-wave UV. These fossils are Early Pleistocene in age, or approximately 2 million years old.
Ruck's Pit was a small cement quarry, that for several years in the early 2000's produced some amazing crystal lined fossils. Around 2006 the quarry was shut down, and filled in with water. While some material is still being found in tailing piles from he quarry, high quality specimens of these remarkable crystal filled fossils are becoming harder to acquire.
