There is no doubt that the auction houses can be awash in outright fakes or the bending/breaking the truth over how much of a trilobite is restored or composited. It is always pays to be extra cautious and perform due diligence when buying online. That said, what of intentionally buying the unreal? In this case, I decided to buy two replicas -- both of which were advertised as such, so no hanky-panky. The likelihood of me owning the genuine article of these two in the foreseeable future without breaking the bank is fairly small, so a replica will fill the hole for the time being. This is a replica of the classic Arctinurus boltoni found in 1978. It is fairly well done, and faithful to the original in several ways. Even the tiny pustules are reproduced fairly well. What trilobite collector doesn't want a giant Drotops megalomanicus? Yes, I have an example of a real one, but a nice large prone is still on my bucket list. This one is fairly well done as well. Those lovely, large Drotops are a bit tougher to come by these days, and a lot of them I see for sale are fairly B- or C-grade examples, or otherwise circulating from old collections. On this replica, even the eye lenses are done very well.
In all, pretty good quality replicas. That said, the ability to produce such convincing replicas should give us pause to consider that it may be getting easier to produce actual fakes for the marketplace that pass the purely visual tests buyers may use to purchase specimens online. Caveat emptor is never out of season, and the more coveted (and expensive) the taxon, the more scrutiny buyers should exercise before plunking down a lot of money. I have been prepping a bit as of late, mostly focusing on the long abandoned pieces. At present, I have nothing complete to show and tell. One current prep is going to take an eternity, so it may be a while until that one is ready for public viewing. Let's just say that scribing through hard crystalline chert is about as easy as trying to roll a dump truck up a hill with a twig. Continuing with that lovely labour will have to wait a bit until I can get on top of the mountain of essay grading. The fossil season -- lacklustre as it was this year -- is pretty much over, now that there is snow. That said, I am not going to officially call it prematurely since oscillating temperatures and surprise opportunities are more the norm in the past few years. My annual blog tradition of a roundup post of the year's finds and happenings will wait a bit longer. Instead, a small post to signal some work in the lab. I am in need of a few more tools, but I'm waiting for the economy to improve a wee bit (and perhaps we'll be waiting a while). There is no doubt I have several flats of unfinished/abandoned/delayed preps to clean up. Sometimes I get in that "let's clear up the backlog" moods to cut down on the mountains of half-prepared clutter threatening to topple over me in the little lab. I had received a package of St Petersburg trilobites for prep. None of them came out very well at all, and this one was no exception. In this case, stupid me went ahead and glued these pieces together without properly marking the location of the trilobite, so it was blind scribing until I hit shell. Fortunately, I didn't scribe right through it (much). This is a Pseudobasilicus lavrowi, and these are deemed much rarer than the Asaphus sp. that turn up in these rocks. Rarer, and much thinner and less forgiving. To complicate matters, parts of it were encased in that sticky translucent calcite that is tougher than the shell, so abrasion would just burn the shell around these little calcite globs. Some parts were lost. The first attempt at some restoration was a disaster, but reversible. I opted to scale back my efforts in that regard. It isn't a "wow" display piece, but an "example of the species" piece. I've done much better work, but I've also prepared much kinder trilobites. This one was mostly prepped when I got it, and I just continued a bit without getting too risky. It has two starfish (Schuchertia stellata, I think), and two species of Ceraurus. This Nanillaenus/Thaleops was mostly prepared but missing some parts. I did some matrix landscaping and somewhat tasteful restoration I can fine tune later.
There's a handful of others "on the go," which means they are on top of the blast box as higher priority. Unless I get my hands on some new complete trilobites to prepare this winter, it is likely I'll be focusing on the B- and C-material I have. I don't get out nearly as much as I would like, what with logistics of site access and that whole job thing, but autumn is by far the very best of the fossil season: not too hot and full of vegetation like summer, not too buggy, not too soggy like spring. I did manage a good handful of local trips to the Devonian hot spots that I've mostly tapped out (but doggedly determined to squeeze out the last drop), but I've been remiss in not recording them in the trusty field record as I lost a good deal of enthusiasm mid-summer. That said, the tools are still active, but not as much as I would like; next year will hopefully see a renaissance for my collecting activities. Even though it is out of sequence of collecting events, I will stick with the geologic sequence by starting with the Ordovician. I hit up a Cobourg Fm spot which generally is far too high energy to have much trilobites that are more than just bits. I still had some luck. This is what can typically be found: parts of Isotelus, Pseudogygites, and (I will get shout at for saying this) Thaleops. I mean, Nanillaenus. :P Maybe someone I know will publish the definitive paper to set the world to rights. Heh heh. I also found a weathered Ceraurinus glabella that is about as exciting as finding a weathered glabella sounds, so no photo required of that one. It really is not great rock for splitting, but scanning instead. While leaving one section, I just happened to look down in the talus to see this nicely enrolled Flexicalymene senaria that should clean up nicely. Some issues with the left pleurae, and a chip off the anterior process of the cephalic margin, but that's small potatoes when it is a tumbled specimen in what is almost gravel. I'll take it as a wee win. This was my happy find, and a bucket list item for me: a loosely enrolled Pseudogygites latimarginatus, also just sitting in the talus, wedged in the piles. I've wanted a 3D version of this species for some while, and it was the first species of trilobite I ever found back when I was seven. Of course, all of them were flat in the black and brown shales of Ottawa, so getting a puffy version brought me some small joy. Yes, it is sadly exfoliated in places, but again it was sitting out loose and in much better shape than one might expect. I also found what may be a full prone Flexi that I haven't shown a photo of here, but I'll wait until I prep it. On to the fickle Silurian on a northern jaunt. After 20 hours of splitting ugly rock, I didn't come away as well as I would have liked, or like I had in the past, but some things were got. Just as an interest piece, I took this slab of Thalassocystis striata, a macroalgae that appears as a thick carbonaceous film. Flag the slab on the left for now. Although it is just parts, some preliminary prep has revealed some neat parts after all. The sad genal on the right is from the toad-like encrinurid, Distyrax. I still haven't quite found my complete one yet. Any fragment of Ekwanoscutellum ekwanensis is worth picking up on account of it being among the rarest of the five trilobite species in this formation. On the right is a typical but unfortunate split of a Rielaspsis, but that is a simple matter of gluing (which I have since done) and it is a complete prone. Not sure if it has cheeks yet, though. As far as trip-makers go, this was my closest. Half of a Stelckaspis perplexa (line drawing on the right for comparison, in Ludvigsen's text on Anticosti trilobites which are similar to this site). The stupid irony is that this was just sitting out in the talus, and not from all the hard pounding being done on frustratingly blank, coral-infested, or burrow-ridden rocks. What makes this special is I can now say I have examples of all five of the trilobite species in this formation, even though four out of those five are incomplete. That first Silurian slab above? I was playing around with it to see if I could prep out all the parts (there are so far over 50 specimens and I've just started) and this one closeup shows four species. There are obvious Rielaspsis here, but also Distyrax pygidium at 7 O'clock and a genal 3 O'clock to the left of a Diacalymene cephalon, and even half a a Stelckaspis cephalon at 5 O'clock (a better photo of that one will come at some point). And that's just barely a few inches of the entire slab with so much more to find. Will there be a complete one? Not likely, but I've had surprises in the prep box with this material before in finding one. My Devonian adventures have been... meh, apart from that nice roller I found and posted about last blog entry. Me and a fossil comrade explored what must have been the crappiest facies of the Bois Blanc Fm, which was poor in trilobites, rich in corals and brachs. Still, a placoderm part to the left, and a complete (yet brutally exfoliated) phacopid on the right. Otherwise, I've dug in the Dundee, Amherstburg, and other associated Devonian formations in southwestern Ontario with not much to show but the same old parts.
I hope to get out again a few times, but that will depend on logistics and crimes of opportunity. If not, well, I can prep a few things to show and tell in the months to come. Nothing too notable in the last few months, but some local digging around and some prep work of trilobites found or acquired this year. Let's bang on with it, then. First up is a Quebec City area Flexicalymene senaria, which appeared among rocks that weather away exposed material quickly, so it is best to find those that are still mostly buried. A full prone flanked by what appear to be two cephalons. The result was fairly nice with a surprise "buddy" taking up the rear (sadly missing a pygidium and an eye). I prepped out the solo cephalon as well to make a nice association. Not clearly shown in this image is that rear Flexi's orientation, which is at a relatively steep angle, and its anterior cephalic process is effectively suspended in air. Next up is a very recent find and prep that took about 10 hours. Yes, it is just a typical Eldredgeops rana, but any complete example of these found in my city of London is significant. This was found among glacial erratics, and I am hard-pressed to find any outcrops of the differing Devonian lithologies found in them. Case in point would be this brutally hard, Moroccan-like matrix that has no bedding planes and has a tendency to shatter, not split. It is roughly the same age as Penn Dixie material, but with some key differences. The shalier layers of this material will contain a relative abundance of nautiloids, bivalves, brachiopods, and smaller trilo-parts in a muddy, turbid mix. The harder, blanker horizons of this tough-to-source material is almost entirely blank save for mostly complete trilobites. Unlike Penn Dixie, these are much larger and robust, so no compression damage. The rock I took home here is quite thick, and it is not a good idea to trim these in the field because inevitably this will likely shatter through the trilobite, which is softer than the surrounding material, or else leave a bit of "skin" on the broken side. I've seen huge prones in this material that are real heartbreakers on account of the way these rocks split. The process is a slow one on account of the rock's toughness. It is also sticky in a lot of places, and so largely resistant to dolomite abrasion. This will be the slow process of scribing off a flake at a time. At a certain stage of the prep, it was getting a bit awkward to shift this slab around in the box to get the angles I needed, so I used an angle grinder to trim off excess matrix. The thickness meant a lot of scoring and making relief cuts for my relief cuts until it was reduced to palm-size. Much easier to manipulate for prep. My big ME-9100 still struggled to remove bulk matrix. As I was nearing the end of this prep, I had a decision to make: pop it out to be matrix-free, or opt for pedestaling it. Aesthetically, I opted for the latter, but that also comes with more time to carefully scribe in some very cramped spots. I was pleased with the result. It measures just shy of 3 inches (~7.5 cm) on the roll. The eyes are perfect, too.
I have a few other ongoing projects, including an enrolled Asaphus kowalewskii which is nearly done, but that will be for a future post. Some other Russian trilobites to work on as well. I hope to be posting a bit more often as the season winds down. Stay tuned. Although I may have retired from active collecting, I haven't quit trilobites. I received two parcels yesterday: a Baoshan trilobite and a replacement Paasche AECR so I can get back to preparation. I have purchased a few interesting pieces from this seller for bargain basement prices. I initially thought this was a Nileus, but a trilobite expert corrected me by pointing out the obvious number of segments that puts this in the illaenid camp. Although missing a bit of pygidium and the right cheek, it has a nicely defined broad axis and pleurae. The ongoing problem with all these Baoshan goodies is that many of them haven't been revised since Sheng in 1974, so lack formal description. The matrix is fairly soft, almost clay-like, so the trilobite shells are almost chalky. I'm going to catalogue it as "undescribed illaenid" for the time being, and I hope to pick up some more in the future.
The last few years of collecting have truly defied gravity, but like a bear market with its rallies, the ups are fewer with lower highs and even lower lows. Despite some great luck in the last few years of taking trips, going a lot farther each time, I just may have to face the reality that sites have dried up. Quarry access is a much rarer thing nowaways. Of course, there will always be scraps to be had, brachiopods and corals galore, but the great material is either off limits or tapped out.
I have not been out anywhere substantive since the end of May as there really isn't much of anywhere to go, or just more of the same. Instead, much of the spring and summer -- my time off work -- has been idle, all dressed up with nowhere to go. One can only raid tiny rock piles so many times before one is just busting up the talus for rapidly diminishing returns. What started as a year of promise has gone into the ditch. 2022 has been a not great year, and might be among the last. Perhaps I can still go on some desultory trip here and there, but it seems going home empty-handed is the norm. More of my collecting will likely have to be through purchases at this point. By the time I got into this, collecting in this part of the world was already in its twilight. I certainly raged against that proverbial dying of the light. I suppose it was just a matter of time before even my obstinacy came speeding into that brick wall of how things are. I haven't been out much, but I did hit a local spot and find a partial Terataspis pygidium that I'm prepping. It's midway right now and I'll post that separately. For now, just a quickie of what I got in the mail. Here's some crummy pictures: I've wanted one of these flying bugs for a while, and apart from my amazing Dicranurus, I went with something common. Common, yes, but almost 4 inches at a great price. I just can't fathom doing a prep like this. It ain't perfect, but I got it for a steal. Crotalocephalina gibbus. This replaces my other example gifted to me by a fossil comrade. I just hope there will be no earthquakes any time soon, lol. Yes, the hypostome is also exposed, although I did not photograph it. The flying bugs has become more of a feature in Moroccan trilobites in a tight market. Part of me bought this on the prep alone. I could not do this.
The highlight of my Temiskaming trip back in October ended up being the only decent find I made, but inasmuch as finding Rielaspis is cool (and I have a lovely multi-plate that attests to that and a number of singles), there are some trilobites in the Thornloe Fm that make one stand to attention. Certainly, a complete Distyrax or Stelckaspis are sensational finds on their own, but perhaps an even rarer standout would be the scutellid, Ekwanoscutellum. Fragments are sometimes encountered, mostly pygidia, but complete specimens are almost unheard of (a collecting friend of mine found a near complete one on the same trip, and only discovered that after he had been prepping). These scutellids are fairly large -- the largest trilobites in this formation -- and so are more subject to all sorts of forces that result in disarticulation rather than well composed preservation. Although my specimen is not complete, it is fairly close. Absent the cheeks (or maybe not?) and with exfoliation, it has its demerits. The initial state. And the negative where some of the shell stuck. I focused on where it was buried. The pustulose pygidium has come into focus, and the long pleurae are being steadily and carefully uncovered. I swapped between fine scribe and abrasion, with more of the latter. In all, I spent 15 hours, some of it a bit tricky. Parts of the shell are very thin. The final(?) result. I could not find the cheeks, but maybe I need to probe a bit more. There is still an opportunity for me to transfer some of the negative as well, but I don't feel very confident with my skills to do that. I've applied some consolidant to strengthen the shell and debate next steps. This one measures 8.5 cm, so a veritable giant for Thornloe Fm trilobites.
And this just in... another to add to my very big Russian trilobite collection, Asaphus kotlukovi. 7.8 cm. No, I'm still on the tarmac, waiting for my season to get off the runway again. Thankfully, I got a package in the mail from my friend. He and I went collecting in Quebec, and I couldn't bring all my finds home on the train. I had also nabbed a bunch of specimens from him as well. The microwave oven sized box was a little like Christmas in July (because, well, it is July). Two finds of mine. The Flexicalymene senaria might turn out okay, but there is some missing shell on the pygidium, so likely a B-grader. The one one right is a Ceraurus pleurexanthemus. It's very small, and mostly buried -- which is good, as it has a higher likelihood of being complete. The visible pygidial spine and eye are a good sign. Speaking of prep, this Cyphaspis from Morocco looks interesting. Challenge accepted. This is a real stellar plate, and it just needs some finishing prep. What makes it stellar is not (just) the four trilobites, but the truly "stellar" aspect of it if you can pick it out... Two starfish! And my first two in the collection. My prize find from Temiskaming returns home. My friend says it is virtually unpreppable, but I'm going to give it a go since a near complete Ekwanoscutellum is extremely rare, and likely of scientific significance. Sadly, a large area is exfoliated and in the negative, and there is really no way of guaranteeing it will go back together or just end up destroyed in the process given the matrix. But I can still prep the rest... and I have already put in 14 hours. Once I'm done, it deserves its own blog post, hopefully in the coming days.
I'm certainly a big fan of lichids, perhaps more so than most other Orders of trilobites. One arrived for me in the mail, originally from the Jorf locality in Morocco. May I introduce Akantharges mellishae: Certainly my kudos to the preparator. These partly metamorphosed trilobites (lending them a sort of plasticized look) are not easy to prepare given that they can appear encased in hard chert.
This one used to be known as Basseiarges mellishae, but Allart van Viersen's article last year more properly placed it as a junior synonym of Akantharges. A close look at the pygidium tells the "tail," so to speak. It is a short, but great article for those keen on reading up on lichid literature. Highly recommended: Van Viersen, A. P. Systematics of Devonian trochurine trilobites (Lichidae). N. Jb. Geol. Paläont. Abh. 300/2 (2021), 175–187. |
Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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