Orthotetes keokuk Brachiopod

This brachiopod imprint is about the size of a child's hand. It appears to be an Orthotetes keokuk found in the Keokuk formation of Floyd County, Indiana.  The fossil is from the Mississippian Period. It measures about 10 cm wide and 7 cm tall.

Thanks to Kenny for letting me photograph it.

Golden Foraminifera

Here is a gold coated foraminifera fossil. It was prepared to be imaged under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). I believe it was prepared back in 2008. It reminds me of a Peneroplis planatus similar to the one found at foraminifera.eu

These gold coated fossils remind me of the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964) where Goldfinger has the person killed by covering her in gold paint.

Thanks to Michael Hesemann at www.foraminifera.eu for the samples and they are very nice to look at.

Pleuroceras Ammonite - Germany

This fossil is a species of the genus Pleuroceras found in the clay pits at Buttenheim located in the state of Bayern (Bavaria), Germany. I think it is located in the Lias lithostratigraphic unit which would date to the Jurassic. Fossil is about 3 cm wide.

One can learn more at the German fossil site steinkern.de. The site is in German but use a translate.google.com to help figure out what is being said if you do not understand the language. I did learn that der steinkern apparently means "the stone core".

Thanks to Dieter Ketelsen of Hamburg, Germany for the fossils/matrix. Also I appreciate Michael at foraminifera.eu for bringing the matrix the fossil was in and paper guide to the fossil collection area. 

I tried to prep this with an engraver to remove large matrix sections and then a needle for the finer parts. The matrix is soft and easy to remove but as I found out must be done with a delicate touch. As a result I knocked the center whirl out. It retrospect, more care should have been taken and I should have consulted the Preparation and Recovery section of steinkern.de.