We made an amazing find last year and are very excited to be able to share it. This incredible fossil is a Puzosia ammonite from Madagascar. The deposit these fossils are found in is middle cretaceous which is thought to be about 70 to 125 million years old. This fatter and thicker species of ammonite is less seldom encountered in the Madagascar digging sites than other varieties. The wider aperture where the creature lived in the shell is particularly well suited to this type of dramatic preparation where the sutures are revealed in intricate detail. The creatures grew remarkably fast and would add several segments per year, with each segment delineated by the flowery suture growth pattern you now see in this carefully prepared specimen. I'd seen these incredible fossils before as one of the species that is often polished just below the shell to reveal an incredible play of opal like iridescent fire. But the artisan that prepared this fossil had a very different vision for how to show off these natural wonders from time long forgotten. The more common polished fossils sometimes show the sutures here and there below the outer shell, but it takes a lot of delicate work to reveal the pattern over the entire fossil like this! What I'd never seen until very recently was the careful cleaning of the end of the chamber to reveal the edge of the sutures in their full 3-dimensional glory! It's an incredibly impressive fossil at a very affordable price for such a nice sized specimen. Look closely and you'll note that this one is hollow as revealed by the geode cavity the carver exposed while following the sutured tips! I added a few to my own collection and picked up a few extra to share here with our fellow rock and fossil lovers. Enjoy!!
I've admired these fine specimens for years, but the prices were always out of reach for my own collection. I thought the quality and price came together with this fellows imports however and with the added touch of the new artist preparing them so perfectly I couldn't resist! I purchased some extra ones to share here on eBay. I touched up the polish on my buffers where I thought they needed it, but few did. The quality of work in this pieces was by far and away the best I've ever seen come out of Madagascar. Ammonites of this quality in these larger sizes are relatively rare. I'd seen some for several hundred bucks, some even over $1,000. It's quite showy and really an amazing fossil treasure with great heft and a smooth, polished gemstone feel in your hand.
These were all fairly large ammonites but this is one is on the smaller end of the spectrum I saw prepared with this careful exposure of the sutured end. Every one I selected was virtually perfect. This one measures just about 3.6" high and weighs about 0.54 lbs. You won't find it's equal - I'm certain!
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