Ohio State Prospectors Association

here's some of my latest finds

Monster trilo....



another huge partial trilo...


Cephalopods...







Gastropods...





Trilobites...










Calayx...




Ferns, plants and woodbark
Annularia


Ferns






wood bark
Sigillaria and Lepidodendron


Calamites


Corals..




Rugose coral



Coral on martix found prospecting at the Swank claim


Huge horn coral...


Coral cluster from OH given to me by Pat

Your LATEST finds? This looks like a lifetime of hunting to me - holy cow!

That's a very nice collection!!!

Kevin P

excellent

Looks like a collection of very nice fossils. Your's is far larger in size than mine is.

Hello Susie q

This is a great colllection! The ferns were so well defined. Thank you for the pictures.

Thank you all for the nice comments...

Creekcam and B-man, lol..that's just what I've collected since May and what an awesome 3 months it's been..I've been fossiling for years and I had quite an extensive collection but when I got flooded earlier this year, I was at work when the water suddenly rose at the rate it did and by the time I was notified and got to the house..it was too late, the firemen tried to stop us but the kids and I waded in for a few minutes to get clothes and stuff to carry us through, put up and save what we could, till it receded..most of what I had was from western NY and it was destroyed by the water..the main rock from that region is a soft shale to mudstone/clay type and they totally dissolved to mush so I have to start over.

Goldhouse..if you like those ferns, you'll love my white pyrophilite ferns from St. Clair, PA..one of only two locations in the world where due to the natural mineralization processes the ferns are pure white on a black shale, if you can find the good stuff..most of what is in the quarry has rust stains from the high iron content in the rock which turns the ferns yellowish to orange..which is pretty too but the pure white is the prized find..I even found a few that are silver in color.

Pyrophilite ferns...








Silver colored fern...


my pit full of pure white ferns...


pit with rusted pieces of ferns...

Thank you for the new pics. Sorry to here about your home! It happened all too often here to because of the record rains. Water in places I have never seen it get to before. My son I will be at this weekends meeting at the Swank. I will bring our meager collection from this year if you are attending this month. If not have a great time collecting.

Goldhouse, I would love to come this weekend but I can't..I have to work overtime tonite, they waited till an hour before my shift was over to hit me with it and I have a family member in the hospital so till she comes home, I'm staying close to home. Still trying to get work off so I can attend Gold Rush days.

We had 6 months of record breaking-unending rain here in north-central PA starting back last Nov and it just kept coming..Dec 1st was the first flooding and had the brillant minds behind the Corps of Engineers not decided to do a let-down at a dam up river from me (never notified the public they were going to do so) when the river was already raging and at flood stage..we would have been high and dry. The second flooding hit us Mar. 19th but Mother Nature was behind that one and it wasn't anything nearly as bad as the Dec. flood..I just had to start all over again with what I had already done remodeling wise..which sucked but what can ya do, you just have to make the best of it and go on. When I moved here 5 yrs ago..I feared the river and possible floodings but the neighbors around me assured me not to worry because this area I live in hadn't seen a flood since 1972 when Hurricane Anges came to visit and hung over us for 3 days.

Hopefully your mother is doing well. Sorry to here about your flooding but twice. I failed to make it to Swank myself. The forecast called for storms and rain. The thought of another trip up there with a wet tent and high water did not sound all that good to me. Keep the pump runnin and your feet dry!