# A recent find



## Rick (Feb 14, 2013)

Some of you may know that I am an avid fossil hunter. The east coast provides a lot of opportunity for finding fossils. Earlier in January I found this American Mastodon tooth in a creek I frequent for fossils. A find like this is usually found by river divers. It is quite a rare find in general but even more so from this particular location. Thought some here might enjoy:












Me consolidating the root with butvar (Polyvinyl butyral resin) to stabilize it:


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## Danny. (Feb 14, 2013)

Wow what a find!


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## sally (Feb 14, 2013)

that is incredible. good for you


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## D_Hemptress (Feb 14, 2013)

that is SO cool!


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## BugLover (Feb 14, 2013)

wish i could find things like that around here.


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## Paradoxica (Feb 14, 2013)

Amazing


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## agent A (Feb 14, 2013)

nice :tt1:


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## Plex (Feb 14, 2013)

That's an amazing find!!

What other fossils have you found?


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## Precarious (Feb 14, 2013)

Wow! Awesome!


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## Rick (Feb 14, 2013)

Plex said:


> That's an amazing find!!
> 
> What other fossils have you found?


Lots. Many species of shark. Whale, fish, inverts, mammals, etc.


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## Paradoxica (Feb 14, 2013)

Reminds me of searching for Trilobites with my Dad when I was a kid. We would go out to an eroded hillside in Malibu and dig, we mostly just found fossilized clams, but it was still so fun.


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## Rick (Feb 14, 2013)

Paradoxica said:


> Reminds me of searching for Trilobites with my Dad when I was a kid. We would go out to an eroded hillside in Malibu and dig, we mostly just found fossilized clams, but it was still so fun.


Yep. Our strata here is much too young for Trilobites. Oldest we get here is Cretaceous.


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## OctoberRainne (Feb 14, 2013)

OMG this is beyond cool,most kids dream of growing up to find that kind of stuff,guess you're living the dream


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## AxolotlsAreCoolToo (Feb 14, 2013)

yeah right on!! very jealous


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## Rick (Feb 15, 2013)

Here is a 5" Megalodon shark tooth I found last year:






And here is a 5.5" one I found last month. First pic is how I first saw it in my gravel sifter and the second is when I pulled it out:


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## Rick (Feb 16, 2013)

Not fossil people around here huh?


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## sinensispsyched (Feb 16, 2013)

Here in NY we have the Penn Dixie Fossil Park, where it was a prehistoric lake, where you can find trilobites and fool's gold very easily. It was a cool place to go to during a field trip.


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## Rick (Feb 16, 2013)

sinensispsyched said:


> Here in NY we have the Penn Dixie Fossil Park, where it was a prehistoric lake, where you can find trilobites and fool's gold very easily. It was a cool place to go to during a field trip.


I'm going to be up there this summer. Wife is from Buffalo area. I'm hoping to find a trilobite or something else we don't find around here.


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## sinensispsyched (Feb 16, 2013)

Rick said:


> I'm going to be up there this summer. Wife is from Buffalo area. I'm hoping to find a trilobite or something else we don't find around here.


Yeah, its a cool place. Stop by sometime!


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## hierodula (Feb 16, 2013)

I wish I knew o f a place like that in cali. I loved dinos as a kid, and anything paleontology related, and i still kinda do.


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## frogparty (Feb 17, 2013)

amazing. I remember going to a beach onthe east coast and finding TONS of shark and crocodile teeth in the beach sand "Scientist cliffs" maybe is the name. I have baskets of shark teeth from there, and a few VERY old scallop like bivalves from the sandstone cliffs from a beach near there. In Washington, I know several places for clam, moonsnail, and the occasional crab fossil, and lots of leaf fossils in shale deposits


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## Rick (Feb 17, 2013)

hierodula said:


> I wish I knew o f a place like that in cali. I loved dinos as a kid, and anything paleontology related, and i still kinda do.


Look up Sharktooth hill. You have one of the neatest places in your state that I'd love to dig at.


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## Rick (Feb 17, 2013)

frogparty said:


> amazing. I remember going to a beach onthe east coast and finding TONS of shark and crocodile teeth in the beach sand "Scientist cliffs" maybe is the name. I have baskets of shark teeth from there, and a few VERY old scallop like bivalves from the sandstone cliffs from a beach near there. In Washington, I know several places for clam, moonsnail, and the occasional crab fossil, and lots of leaf fossils in shale deposits


What kind of shark teeth? Anything rare or unusual? Were they in good condition? Always nice to find a good croc tooth.


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## brancsikia339 (Feb 17, 2013)

Wow!!!! Just saw this post!!! Amazing!!!!!! I wanna go fossil hunting!


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## hierodula (Feb 17, 2013)

can you just go there and dig?


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## Rick (Feb 18, 2013)

hierodula said:


> can you just go there and dig?


If you mean Shark Tooth Hill no I don't think so. At least not anymore. There is at least one museum that takes people in. I hope to get out there one day.


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## ScienceGirl (Feb 18, 2013)

Wow... That's impressive!


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## yen_saw (Feb 18, 2013)

Rick said:


> Some of you may know that I am an avid fossil hunter. The east coast provides a lot of opportunity for finding fossils. Earlier in January I found this American Mastodon tooth in a creek I frequent for fossils. A find like this is usually found by river divers. It is quite a rare find in general but even more so from this particular location. Thought some here might enjoy:


That's pretty rare. Congrats!


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## giesle (Feb 19, 2013)

Awesome find, Rick. That's interesting.


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## Rick (Feb 19, 2013)

yen_saw said:


> That's pretty rare. Congrats!


Thanks Yen.


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## frogparty (Feb 19, 2013)

Rick said:


> What kind of shark teeth? Anything rare or unusual? Were they in good condition? Always nice to find a good croc tooth.


6 or 7 different species all in excellent condition. Species wise...not sure. Pretty sure there are lemon shark in there though

Croc teeth are extremely rare there


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## TheOtherSpecies (Feb 23, 2013)

Rick,

If you ever make it out to Montana I recommend checking out the museum of the rockies in Bozemen!


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## Rick (Feb 24, 2013)

TheOtherSpecies said:


> Rick, If you ever make it out to Montana I recommend checking out the museum of the rockies in Bozemen!


For sure. I'd love to get out there someday.


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## frogparty (Feb 24, 2013)

Im planning a dig at sharktooth hill in april


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## Rick (Feb 25, 2013)

frogparty said:


> Im planning a dig at sharktooth hill in april


Awesome. Be sure to post your finds. Are you a member over at The Fossil Forum?


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## Orin (Feb 26, 2013)

I've run across various small fossils and the really big ones were maybe one and a half inch snail shells but I never found anything interesting or worth more than $1. I'm guessing that tooth is worth at least a few hundred.


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## Rick (Feb 26, 2013)

Orin said:


> I've run across various small fossils and the really big ones were maybe one and a half inch snail shells but I never found anything interesting or worth more than $1. I'm guessing that tooth is worth at least a few hundred.


Your location has everything to do with it. Not sure of the strata where you live but I wouldn't expect there to be many vertebrate finds up there. I am fortunate to live on the very fossil rich east coast.

Based on what I see for sale right now I think this tooth would go for more than a few hundred. It really is a nice example. But I don't care what a fossil is worth. Often that seems to be the criteria non fossil hunters/collectors think about when first exposed to the hobby. I can't put a price on my finds. They are priceless to me. You can't put a price on the thrill and experience of the hunt. And to know that I am the first person to ever lay eyes on a fossil really makes them special. Some people hunt to sell, but to me that isn't what it is about.


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## Orin (Feb 26, 2013)

I didn't look it up, $600? More? Less? I understand that the value in one sense means nothing since you don't plan to sell it but the value other humans attribute to it (it's worth wether expressed in dollar signs or not) is the reason you didn't just leave it there. If I had ever found a fossil worth "$20" I probably would have learned more about the hobby.


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## Rick (Feb 27, 2013)

Orin said:


> I didn't look it up, $600? More? Less? I understand that the value in one sense means nothing since you don't plan to sell it but the value other humans attribute to it (it's worth wether expressed in dollar signs or not) is the reason you didn't just leave it there. If I had ever found a fossil worth "$20" I probably would have learned more about the hobby.


It is worth whatever someone will pay for it. I've seen examples like that going for near 1K.

I don't really think of these things in monetary terms. True, some things are more rare and some fossils are common in some locations and very rare in others. But people often do look at this type of thing in monetary terms. A question I get asked often is how much something is worth. I can never really answer that. I don't buy fossils because there is no fun in that.


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## Rick (Aug 17, 2013)

sinensispsyched said:


> Here in NY we have the Penn Dixie Fossil Park, where it was a prehistoric lake, where you can find trilobites and fool's gold very easily. It was a cool place to go to during a field trip.


I spent two days collecting at Penn Dixie this summer. Much different than what we do here but I found some good stuff.


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 17, 2013)

All i have to show is my shark tooth collection  

I'll have to check out that fossil forum you spoke of, Rick. It seems like since i live right by the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac river i should be able to get into the hobby?


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## Rick (Aug 18, 2013)

ShieldMantid1997 said:


> All i have to show is my shark tooth collection
> 
> I'll have to check out that fossil forum you spoke of, Rick. It seems like since i live right by the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac river i should be able to get into the hobby?


What do you mean ALL you have is your shark tooth collection. I love collecting/finding sharks teeth! There are so many species of shark to be found. You live in a great location for them too. The fossil forum is just like this forum but for fossils.


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 18, 2013)

Shark teeth are lovely, but next to that large fossil of yours, my shark teeth look like nothing!

At one point i did separate them all by species, but my sister didn't realize that and put them all back into one box :/

I also found what i believe are stingray molars/teeth.

My favorite teeth to find are tiger shark, white tip, and an extinct mako species. (i have 2 of those, not sure how rare they are?)


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## Rick (Aug 19, 2013)

ShieldMantid1997 said:


> Shark teeth are lovely, but next to that large fossil of yours, my shark teeth look like nothing!
> 
> At one point i did separate them all by species, but my sister didn't realize that and put them all back into one box :/
> 
> ...


Well you can't go off size really. There are many species of fossil shark teeth that are far more rare than a mastodon tooth. While a mastodon tooth is very striking, in the grand scheme of things it isn't really a rare fossil. There are certain species of shark I am still looking to find that are very rare. And then you might find something that is very rare in one location but not another. And then you get some shark fossils that are rare everywhere, like Paratodus benedeni. Then of course some tooth positions are more rare than others.

To most people a fossil shark tooth is a fossil shark tooth is a fossil shark tooth. Collecting stuff like this is in many ways just like other things and only those that do it really understand why one is "better' than another. Same can be said about coins, stamps, mantids, etc. I have some pretty rare stuff but I like finding them all.


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## devetaki9 (Sep 18, 2013)

Just caught this thread and would love to hunt for fossils but I'm pretty sure that's a moot point up here


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## Rick (Sep 19, 2013)

devetaki9 said:


> Just caught this thread and would love to hunt for fossils but I'm pretty sure that's a moot point up here


Not really. Things are just different and much much older.


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## devetaki9 (Sep 19, 2013)

I will check out the fossil forums. Maybe the white mountains or even our coast might have spots. There is alot of granite here though ^.^


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## Rick (Sep 20, 2013)

devetaki9 said:


> I will check out the fossil forums. Maybe the white mountains or even our coast might have spots. There is alot of granite here though ^.^


Yes come look at thefossilforum.com. I am sure there are areas around you with fossils. I went up to Western NY this summer to dig for trilobites. It is much different than what we do down here though.


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