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Happy Father's Day (eve) to Me! 06/20/10

I also had the pleasure of going on a Father’s Day trip this past weekend, but on Saturday.  My trips have been few and far between because of my daughter’s fastpitch softball travel and high school commitments and my related coaching commitments, and also HS graduation too.  But, now I finally have something to share.  Well, let me restate that, the interesting stuff wasn’t mine, but my daughter’s finds.  She is a human fossil shark tooth vacuum cleaner and once again found 10 teeth to my one it seems.  This has always been the case, but for some reason in the past I wound up finding the bigger teeth most of the time.  Well, let me tell you over the years you could sense that it began to bother her.  I kept telling her that she should be patient and her day would come.  And did it ever!  My personal goal was first to have a good time, and second to find stuff that I have avoided my collection (Palaeocarcharodon, Paraorthocodus, a ratfish plate to replace the one that I tossed away, etc.).  And, if I found a big Otodus tooth or something like that then that was gravy.  OK, truth be told here, all of those things except for the ratfish tooth avoided me again.  After years of collecting I’m still Palaeocarcharodon/Paraorthocodus challenged!  But, my daughter beat me to it!  Not only did she find a nice Paraorthocodus, but after we got home and she put her finds on display did I find out she had also found a Palaeocarcharodon orientalis, albeit a worn and beat up, but certainly both firsts for our collection!  But, she didn’t stop there.  We had worked as far as we wanted to go given the heat on Saturday and were working our way back now with the sun bearing down on us.  She was about 75 yards ahead of me with only one deadfall separating us when I heard a loud series of screams in the form of “Dad!!!!!... Dad!!!!!... Dad!!!!!...”, etc. (about 50 times and loud).  I looked up and witnessed her scaling the deadfall and sprinting my way with something clutched tightly in her hand.  When she got to me she opened her hand to show me in surprise and then launched a huge hug on me.  It’s a good thing too because that hug prevented about a gallon of river water from going down my gullet as my jaw certainly would have dropped to water level.  There in her hand was a huge Otodus obliquus tooth that I later measured at 2 ¾” slant height, nearly perfect except for some small chips on one side of the blade and a bit of tip damage.  The cusplets were amazing and look serrated to me (I’ll have to get a close up later).  Anyway, that hug, and the look in her face, the light in her eyes, made that the single best fossil hunting experience that I’ve ever been through. 

 

OK, now on to my stuff, pitiful in comparison to hers, but at least I did find something that I didn’t currently have in my collection that I once had found and threw it away, a ratfish plate.  Also, I found two nice croc teeth and a nice croc scute fragment, so those things made my trip as far as finds go.  But like I said earlier, what made the trip was that one hug and moment, and sharing such a nice day with my daughter.  I couldn’t have had a better Father’s Day.



1 available
Location Potomac River, Maryland, USA

ID3707
MemberFat Boy
Date Added6/24/2010

My daughter's Otodus, slant height 2 3/4", lingual view
labial view
with scale
She also found 2 firsts for our collection, as mentioned above.
Her finds
Her croc tooth
She found a cool tooth still in matrix...
My finds...
My 2 nice croc teeth...
Croc scute and ratfish plate
I also found a tooth in matrix.
OK, now if you take her tooth and put it up against the one that I found on my birthday last year, it makes mine look small. The blade and cusplets are much more massive, and the slant height is almost 1/2" longer! Still, they look perty good together!!!!
  

Links
Potomac Trip 1/10
Potomac Trip 1/10
Where
Where's the Teeth? And 2008 recap
Wet Willy - Aquia 11/30/08 Follow Up
Wet Willy - Aquia 11/30/08 Follow Up
  

Comments
awesome teeth - 6/24/2010
Reviewer : fossilboy from New York United States
Total Rating : 10
WOW that Otodus is huge!, tell your daughter I said congrats on her finds! Content Quality : 10 of 10

Drool Quotient : 10 of 10

Picture Quality : 10 of 10
VOTE! Agree  Disagree  1 of 1 voters agreed.

- 6/24/2010
Reviewer : Greg S from Maryland United States
Total Rating : 10
Great report Kevin, that Otodus is an awesome find! A good day to find it on too. Sounds like a trip to always remember! Content Quality : 10 of 10

Drool Quotient : 10 of 10

Picture Quality : 10 of 10
VOTE! Agree  Disagree  1 of 1 voters agreed.

- 6/24/2010
Reviewer : Daryl from Maryland United States
Total Rating : 10
Wow! 14 years of collecting there and I never found anything even close to that size Otodus. Congrats to your daughter, and congrats on adding the 2 new species as well, they're hard to come by in any condition. Content Quality : 10 of 10

Drool Quotient : 10 of 10

Picture Quality : 10 of 10
VOTE! Agree  Disagree  1 of 1 voters agreed.

- 6/24/2010
Reviewer : Flex68 from Virginia United States
Total Rating : 10
A fossil sharks tooth vacuum cleaner, indeed ! That toad is pretty awesome, and your Report was a great read. Sounds like you had quite an outstanding Father's Day ! Content Quality : 10 of 10

Drool Quotient : 10 of 10

Picture Quality : 10 of 10
VOTE! Agree  Disagree  1 of 1 voters agreed.

Congratulations! - 6/24/2010
Reviewer : dw from Summerville South Carolina United States
Total Rating : 10
I really enjoyed your report! Your daughter sounds like an awesome collector; that otodus is amazing! Isn't it great to celebrate finds like that with your kid?!?!? Content Quality : 10 of 10

Drool Quotient : 10 of 10

Picture Quality : 10 of 10
VOTE! Agree  Disagree  1 of 1 voters agreed.

Thanks everyone... - 6/25/2010
Reviewer : Fat Boy from Maryland United States
Total Rating : No Rating
...for the nice responses. She is so very happy right now. I have to say that we still have it sitting on that white towel and when I come home from work I can't stop picking it up and examining it, whether it's for a few seconds or with my 10X magnifier. Which reminds me, the cusplets aren't serrated, but look like it with the naked eye, under magnification it looks like feeding wear and tear perhaps. Another interesting thing that I noticed was that there are 3 chips on one side of the blade that separated by equal distances. Do you think that might be also from the shark biting the tooth as it was being lost? I'll try and post some close ups in the forum. Yeah, dw, I get a kick out of sharing these experiences with her. There are times that I get out and collect by myself and when that happens I miss her being there. So my goal is to have her there as much as possible. She's kinda wimpy in the cold winter so I'll have to brave the elements in the winter on my own now and then. Yeah, it's pretty cool indeed.
VOTE! Agree  Disagree 

Congratulations! - 6/26/2010
Reviewer : DCC from
Total Rating : 10
Sometimes you find more than shark teeth when you go searching! Congratulations on finding family memories that will last a life time (for both of you)! Great teeth also! Content Quality : 10 of 10

Drool Quotient : 10 of 10

Picture Quality : 10 of 10
VOTE! Agree  Disagree 


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