Dinosaur Fossil Whole Ammonite GONIATITE Multi-Color 290mm XXXLARGE 11.5" 1321x

Description

Imagine holding in your hand a 110 million year old fossil.  Some ammonites are much older than that, up to 450 million years old.  Even older than the dinosaurs.  Oceans at the time were teeming with life.  Predators were everywhere.  And it was a live fast, or die hard world for the ammonites.  In fact, ammonites closely resemble modern squids, octopus and the chambered nautilus.  Ammonites were carnivores as well.
Fossils were
once
found only in museums - NOW you can OWN one!!!  You can hold in your hand a part of the ancient fossil record from the time the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
This is the NEW batch from Morocco.  I brought in for Tucson with some of the best color, excellent batch!!!  However the folks in Morocco say the "Pocket of Goniatites has dried up!!!"  I heard this from every Morocco fossil dealer so I have to believe these will be in short supply in the future.
Description:
Ammonite Whole goniatite.  Nice color pattern.  For those that wrongly think "these are man-made" check out the repair in the pictures.  Definitely on only a natural fossil.  This is a thick body one.
Goniatites
- Curved ammonites from Morocco.  Small ones are moderately common.  Large ones up to 12" are much rarer and in higher demand as decorator pieces. Even the medium size ones 5-8" are getting very hard to obtain.  And the price will continue to rise.  The reason?  Very few have been found in the last three years.  The wide ones frequently stand by themselves, so they are always in high demand.  Usually grey, black and white in color. Sometimes in earth tones of brown and tan.  Goniatites are frequently 400 million years old, some of the oldest ammonites.  (small ones moderately common,
Medium and Large are rarer
- especially ones over 5".  I had to dig under tables at Tucson.  Open boxes and then beg the only two suppliers of these to sell me some.  They both tried to limit how many any one dealer could get.  Had to go back several days and bug them to get the quantity I did.)
ONLY a few large ones in Tucson, they found very few this year. The water level is too high.  So there will not be anymore.  Almost sold out.
Weight
(lbs):
18.4 #
Weight
(kg):
8300 gram
Size (inches):
11.5" x 9.5"
Size (cm):
290 mm x  265 mm
Mine location:
Atlas Mountains, Morocco
Item Number:
1299
Retail value in stores:
0
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Facts about ammonites -
Closest living relative - Octopus, Squid, Cuttlefish and it's closest cousin the Nautilus.
First appeared - in shallow seas 450 million year ago.
Extinct - in a catoclysmic event in the Cretaceous, with the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.
Began life - less than 1 mm in diameter.  About the size of a period in this sentence.  But they grew fast.
Females - reported to grow 400% bigger than males.
Shells - comprised of chambers growing as the ammonite did.  Making 13 new chambers each year.  The ammonite lived in the last section, called the living segment.
Medieval Europe - Ammonites were thought to be petrified snakes.  They were called "snakestones" or "serpent stones".  Ammonites were said to be evidence for the actions of St. Hilda and St. Patrick - who drove the snakes out of Ireland.  In ancient times, traders would carve the face of a snake into the wide end of the ammonite fossil and sell them to the public.
The name Ammonite - comes from their spiral shape.  The fossilized shells somewhat resembled tightly coiled rams' horns.  Pliny the Elder (79 A.D. near Pompeii) called these fossils - ammonis cornua ("horns of Ammon") .  Because the Egyptian god Amman was typically depicted wearing ram's horns.
-----------------------------------------------
Types of ammonites -
Cleoniceras
- These most colorful ammonites come from Madagascar, off the coast of Africa.  Cleoniceras is the most common type in Madagascar.  99% of the ammonites found in Madagascar are this species, with a smooth shell and angled segments.  The animal actually lived in the very last segments.  Variations in price are due to color differences and how many crystal cavities (or open 'cave like' structures) in the segments.  On average 110 million years old.
Cymatoceras
- Wide body Madagascar ammonites, with "C" shaped cavities.   Some stand on their own and do not need stands.  Much rarer than the regular narrow body Cleoniceras.  More like a Wide Body Nautilus.
(Limited quantities)
Almost all gone.  They are past this level of digging.
Perisphinctes
- Less than 1% of Madagascar ammonites are this type.  Ridges are on the back from a complete different growth pattern.  The chambers are also more compact and of a different shape.  Frequently one of the most brightly colored.  On normal ammonites, the middle is thicker.  On Perisphinctes the inner coils are smaller which is a rare occurance among ammonites.  These always command a high price.  (
RARE
)
ONLY a couple left.  NONE in Tucson.   (Almost sold out)
Anapuzosia
- WIDE Body with D shaped segments inside.  (Regular Cleoniceras have S shaped segments) These are from a new areas of Madagascar and I am not sure how much longer they will last.  Very deep crystal cavities make them desirable.
New find of small ones.  These will not last, like many on this list they will be past that digging level soon.  Then they may not be available (Limited)
Phylloceras
- WIDE Body with an odd V shape segment.  (Regular Cleoniceras have S shaped segments) These are from a new areas of Madagascar and I am not sure how much longer they will last. Very deep crystal cavities make them very desirable.
(
VERY Limited
)
Almost sold out.
Desmoceras
- A Medium Body Ammonite similiar to the thin Cleoniceras, but wider body with a tighter coil of the shell. Usually with V- Shaped segments. Unlike the Cleoniceras which S-Shaped segments.
(
were Limited supply
)
SOLD OUT  I keep telling folks, when they are gone they are gone...
Goniatites
- Curved ammonites from Morocco.  Small ones are moderately common.  Large ones up to 12" are much rarer and in higher demand as decorator pieces. Even the medium size ones 5-8" are getting very hard to obtain.  And the price will continue to rise.  The reason?  Very few have been found in the last three years.  The wide ones frequently stand by themselves, so they are always in high demand.  Usually grey, black and white in color. Sometimes in earth tones of brown and tan.
Goniatites are frequently 400 million years old, some of the oldest ammonites.  (small ones 2-4" are moderately common.
Medium and Large are rarer
- especially ones over 5".  I had to dig under tables at Tucson.  Open boxes and then beg the only two suppliers of these to sell me some.  They both tried to limit how many any one dealer could get.  Had to go back several days and bug them to get the quantity I did.)
ONLY a few large ones in Tucson, they found very few this year.  The water level is too high.  So there will not be anymore.  Almost sold out.
Check our other listings for these and other types of fine ammonites!!!
------------------------------------------------
New Tucson Ammonite finds:
Madagascar:
****NEW FIND*** Spinoceras - Russian BLACK AND PYRITE ammonites.
Usually these are high end collector ONLY ammonites.  Normally costing ,000 to ,000 as they are that RARE.  I managed to get my hands on a few reasonably price ones ,000 for Large ones to ,000 for the superior size and quality ones.  Normally the nice ones are ,000 to ,000.  It appears the river in Russia this Fall was running very high.  The river washed away a large area of the back exposing these RARE ammonites.   So instead of seeing maybe 20 in Tucson I saw 200.  I jumped on these great find. If I don't sell them online, they go to my Fall shows and the collectors will eat them up.
THESE will DEFINITELY NOT LAST.  The price will surely rise again.
***NEW FIND***
BLACK AMMONITE - LESS THAN 1 in 100 is a black ammonite.  Very RARE and highly prized by collectors.    These "were" found only 1 in 1000 ammonites.  However you are in luck as they have a new find in Madagascar.  These will NOT last.  So you can pick one up for a better price.  Last year they hit a large quantity of these.  Tucson I saw maybe 10% of the volume I saw last year.  You better get them now before the price goes back up and the quantity & quality go down.
LIMITED SUPPLY  When they dig past this level "that's all folks."
***NEW FIND
***
2015
Margarite Daisy ammonite (probably Choffaticeras) -
Tucson new find from Madagascar!!!!  So they are in all probability only found at ONE level of digging.   The people in Madagascar call them Margarite or "Daisy" flower ammonites as they resemble a daisy flower.  Chambers have large crystal cavities with nice botryoidial (bumpy) formations.  Supersize the pictures for better viewing.
ALMOST SOLD OUT.
Colors range from brown to grey to the ones I bought are more BLONDE.   Another dealer and good friend of mine had these, so I scooped up all the pretty ones he had.  Left a couple of grey ones for another dealer.  And yes they were not cheap, but when you see something this rare you have to grab it while is is available.  I saw only one other ammonite dealer in Tucson was WHOLESALING (i.e. selling to dealers&/stores) for over 00 each.  Mine were much better color and more reasonably priced.
All of them appear to be HUGE as no small ones are found.  So don't bother asking.  Everything we have is listed.  And we found no small ones.
No one did.
Ultra RARE, get them while they last, and they will not last long.  Universities are buying them up, for scientific study.  They are that RARE.  In Tucson, I saw only three (and they were not very nice, I know why they were left) .  Almost sold out.
When I tell you to get them NOW while they last, I mean it.  See the ones below that are sold out.
Temporarily SOLD out
- When I say they are limited, "good ones" are limited.  And we won't buy inferior specimens.