Harpes often means sticky hard matrix of Bou dib with low contrast, but we love these bugs. So here's a short photo prep sequence and a short time-lapse video to get an idea how preparation is done: ...before preparation - we can see the cross section: ...a short time-lapse video of preparation: Takes many hours of detailed airscribe work just over the "shell" (with microscope) to reveal the complete specimen. Maybe we'll do a time-lapse of the complete process some day, but

We don't often see how these are found and prepped and no new prep-stories were posted here in a while, so here goes... Ventral part: Positive part: Postive+Negative: For more than 400 million years, trapped in a solid rock: Finally revealed:

A quick post to present a rare species of Psychopyge sp. from Issoumoure. This psychopyge type has a short rostrum and smaller "spines" (shaped more like tubercules), than Psychopyge elegans. Preparation: A.Ž. Photo bellow shows the bug before preparation; it's buried on the bottom of a large block of matrix. To get an idea what it sometimes takes to prep a nice bug, they are not found prepped... About 10 cm of excess dense (hard as a rock) matrix had to be removed with part

A giant phacopid, Pedinopariops (Hypsipariops) vagabundus, is not a "real" Drotops, although often mislabeled as a "Drotops", due to the similar size and appearance. A similar feature of Hypsiopariops, Drotops (and Eldredgeops) is also the eye, with the lenses surrounded by the so-called sclera (ridges), however Drotops's eye is structured a little different and more ornamented. And there's more differences - the most obvious: conical-pointy shaped tuberculation on the glabel

The diversity of body shapes in the trilobites is astonishing, in size, shape and appearance. And the morphological variance exhibited by different "subspecies"/variations of the same genus just as interesting - like in case of Walliserops, a trilobite with trident-like fork extending from the front of the cephalon. There are curentlly 4 variations of Walliserops described, W. trifurcatus, W. hammii, W. tridens and W. lindoei, and at least 3 more undescribed, but some might r

An exceptional preparation trilobite step by step of Isotelus gigas

We all love free fossils! But you might have heard the saying, that the real value of fossils is in the work invested in finding them and good quality preparation? In other words work and time invested is what helps to preserve fossils from erosion and what brings the fossil out of the rock... But if you collect in the field or prep yourself, it can be difficult to understand why that work doesn't actually give fossils it's value. I assume most people do not realize how much

Just a thought (a provocation, if you like) considering all the worries about fakes vs. 100% authentic fossils in the collecting world, usually coming from beginner collectors buying their first Moroccan trilobite fossil... What is the difference between a fake trilobite (a cast) and an authentic massacred trilobite (very poor fast commercial preparation)? In both cases, it's the resellers that make the profit, not the poor Moroccan people who produce such casts, nor Moroccan

Fossils in general, and trilobites in particular, are rarely in top quality, finest state of preservation when they are found. After all, they have been encased in a rock for hundreds of millions of years, exposed to metamorphosis and the movements of the earth's crust, which ultimately lifted them above the surface of the sea. And exposed to roughly every unpleasantness of geological activity, without being completely destroyed in the process of fossilization. Most of the fi

Recently someone interested in fossil preparation asked what are best air-scribes for the money or in other words: are more expensive air-scribes worth the extra money and what's the difference? In short, since prep is not just about fossil-preparation techniques, but also about knowing how prep-tools work, and cleaning and maintenance of prep-lab (which sometimes takes too much time): most cheap airscribes are s**t - not recommended for professional (frequent) use, poorly co

For a trilobite collector (or any fossil collector) it's often not important how different trilobites are prepared, but sometimes understanding how different trilobites are found and what techniques are used to prepare them can help to understand how an almost ordinary looking rock can turn into a scientific valuable fossil specimen, that shapes how fossils are studied and interpreted. Chemical preparation is not often used in trilobite preparation, the whole process is usual

How does a fragile eroded rock turn into a scientific fossil specimen? Fossil preparation - the processes carried out to make fossils useful