My good friend Klaus and his wife came to visit the other weekend. We know each other for almost 40 years now and since he shares the same hobby (I think we discovered that the first day we met in secondary school !), we´ve been collecting together many times. Ahead of his visit, I asked him to bring some of his ammonites that he knows would be perfect for the book.
This is what he brought:
Liparoceras cheltiense, 5 cm / 2 “
This one is a 5 cm / 2 ” Liparoceras cheltiense. It´s not especially large (and while photographing it I noticed it could need a little more TLC, Klaus is just building his new prep shop and I believe he´s going for an air abrader as well), but it´s special since it´s almost uncrushed (very uncommon) and retains most of its original shell, so there is great potential for uncovering more of this beautiful structure during air abrading. It´s from the luridum Subzone (more on that later) but Klaus found it while walking along the glacial drift deposits in Bay and could simply pluck it from the clay – that does not happen every day !
Radstockiceras buvignieri, 20 cm / 8 “
The other one is a rather large Radstockiceras buvignieri, a lovely 20 cm / 8 ” in diameter, actually in preservation very close to the one pictured in HOWARTH´s “The Lower Lias of Robin Hoods Bay, and the work of Leslie Bairstow”. As far as I remember, this find required quite a lot more work than the other one, being stuck in the middle of a large block, with only part of the venter being exposed. I do have a much smaller Radstockiceras in my collection, differently preserved (this species can be found in 3 subzones), and something to show in another post as well.
Both ammonites are quite rare in Bay, and they´re a perfect addition to the book. Thankyou, Klaus, for bringing them along !
AndyS
Yorkshire Ammonites (and other fossils ) revisited 