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Here are two links to posts dealing with how to post pictures on Black River Fossils forums.
1. How to Post Pictures on Black River Fossils Forums by ditchweezil
2. How to Post Pictures on Black River Fossils Forums by Daryl
Has anyone either broken or discarded a fossil thinking that it wasn't a fossil, and later regretted it? I've done it twice now, and the last time was the other day.
Usually my motto is that if it is interesting enough to be a fossil, I keep it, try to identify it, and later throw it away if it's not a fossil. This "motto" was a result of my first regretful experience:
Many years ago I found what looked like a cluster of grapes (Aquia Formation in Virginia). It was my very first trip to that formation and I wasn't experienced enough to recognize some of the fossils (this was pre internet days too). It seemed rather light and not bone like, so thinking it was modern day plant material I decided to test it's strength by squeezing it between my thumb and finger a little bit, and I crushed it into a million pieces with no effort at all. So, I reasoned it wasn't worth keeping and it wasn't a fossil. Later, I learned that it was a Phyllodus mouth plate. So I swore that I wouldn't make that mistake again.
For years that rule worked out until this past weekend. I was collecting on another Aquia Formation site and I found what looked at first to be fossil material, a rather uniform item that appeared to be a possible turtle shell fragment. However, after picking it up I noticed that it wasn't a turtle shell, and it had a great deal of iron mineralization, so I concluded that it was just an odd piece of iron rock and tossed it away. After rethinking what I had done, I tried to find it to no avail (never toss stuff into the water, LOL). And, my latest instinct was correct. It seemed a bit too uniform to be just a hunk of rock, and it turned out to be a fragment of a ratfish dental plate. Dumb dumb...threw it away!
OK, maybe I'll go many more years without making such a mistake, but...then again...
Anyone have any similar stories to share?
I have another one, but this time it was a buddy of mine. We were collecting trilobites along a stream. The fossils were nice, but perfect unbroken trilobites weren't found all day long, until my buddy found one. It was beautiful, about 2 1/2" long, whole, and unbroken...like he bought it out of a museaum gift shop! After we all had our fill of collecting at that spot, we decided to head back to the vehicle and go hit another spot. We had to scale the steep bank back up to the road, and my buddy was ahead of me with his prize fossil in his hand. Finding it difficult to ascend with one hand, he put the other hand down and dropped his fossil onto the scree below, a massive amount of shale! We all climbed back down and searched for a half hour with no luck as it invariably fell into a crevice between the huge chunks of shale. He had pockets and a fanny pack. It would have been his best trilobite ever. There will be more, but that one is history, for someone else to find or not.
Mistakes are one thing, wearing a fanny pack is another...
Just sayin'.
lol
Damn karma got me! I guess it was my remark about the fanny pack.
I managed a couple nice megs offshore of Venice last weekend and after cleaning them I left them on a counter top so the rest of the family could enjoy my bounty. Alas, my wife knocked one off the counter and it is now in many pieces.
I am sorry about the fanny pack comment. Please call of karma.
No worries! Your responses have me cracking up. I'm sure that the luck that brought you your latest megs will find you again!
My buddy is kind of odd, and his fanny pack doesn't help his image either. Admittedly, I wear one when I collect and I probably look even goofier I guess because I wear it backwards and up near my chest so my stuff doesn't get wet, plus it's easier to put things in it that way. I've never put my image before practicality while collecting fossils, but after reading that comment it got me thinking about other ways to meet the need, LOL.
I kind of like the carpenters belt idea. At least that way I can have my rock hammer at the ready too!
Founds an nice long bone with many distinct shark feeding marks on it, something extremely rare in Bakersfield, since I've never seen one before after digging out hundreds of bones. Put it in the bag with other bones to take home, but when got home, it was nowhere to be found! Alas, don't know what happened, did it fall out of the bag at some point?!
Went back to the same location months later when the weather got better, searched around for a while but didn't find it and would probably never find anything like it again :(
Always wanted a bone with feeding marks!