Nautilus pearl

The Alberta paleontologists might be interested in the precedent of Kieslinger's Triassic Nautilus blister (specimen never traced despite my best contacts at the time).

Thank you for the references.

FYI, Specimen 1 and 3 are in my possession. Specimen 1 was acquired though an ammonite shop where I issued a bounty on anything resembling pearls. By a stroke of luck, this piece came to them just a few days later. I was scarcely in Alberta four hours, when the specimen fell into my lap. Three days later, discovered Specimen 2, which was retained by the province. the lot of loose pearls and the host shell fragments were ascended to the collection. Specimen 3 has an even more peculiar story. It was issued a disposition last year and cleared to leave the province. It was given to me at my home in Tofino (for it's dogtooth calcite inclusions) just as we departed for our mining season. I wrapped it carefully and didn't look at it until just the other day, only to realize that it also had a fossil pearl concretion identical to the other specimens.

I also discovered a fossil oyster with a loose oval and a blister pearl. Normally oysters are exempt from disposition applications, but one with pearls was novel to the museum, so it was also ascended.

The same mining partner has 4 sea cans filled with certified ammonite sitting on his property near Red Deer. At this point, I'm sure these occur more often than previously thought. Owing the the issue of concretion and absence of aragonite at the surfaces, no one thought to look. Mistaken for septarian nodules? Technically they are that, I suppose. My first duty with the RTM specimen, would be to reconstruct the ammonite. Once I access the sea cans, I'll be able to start with some IDs and with enough specimens begin destructive testing. Meanwhile, I'm working on some surface microscopy. Looking to find micro-fine aragonite at the surfaces of the concretions.

Below is the oyster with pearls.
 

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Very interesting way to revive this thread Lagoon Island Pearls/Dave!
A great Detective/Paleontology storyline...even Indiana Jones would have his curiosity piqued!
Please keep the info coming as available Dave...and it is great to have you back with us...2021 is already better because of it.
 
Wow! This is so interesting, and exciting. Congratulations, Thanks, and Welcome :)
 
Very interesting way to revive this thread Lagoon Island Pearls/Dave!
A great Detective/Paleontology storyline...even Indiana Jones would have his curiosity piqued!
Please keep the info coming as available Dave...and it is great to have you back with us...2021 is already better because of it.

Couldn't agree more - welcome back, you've been missed! Looking forward to more intrigue on this thread.
 
Hurray! You’ve been missed, and thought of often. Wondering about jade, hoping your next season was smooth going, and all that.
 
Hi Dave, Thanks so much for posting this information and amazing photos for us! Good to see you back!
 
Update:

Here's a video made today. I broke into one of the specimens shown above and ruled out septarian nodules.

However, two of the four specimens shown above may still be septarian. After all, when you observe closely, they are cracked in a star formation... typical of septarian modules.

That said, is this a conflict or do we have distinct specimens? The cracked ones are not in my possession, so until I have a research thing worked out with the museum, I can only speculate. Using Occam's razor and presuming the simplest outcome, let's assume the cracked are septarian and the one's cut today are mere mudballs. This can be contradicted by the fact the overall specimen is HIGHLY calcitic coupled with an expectation the nodules would split accordingly.

One step forward, one step back. It opens doors to other pathways though. Evidence in the smaller samples and the blister shell are up next, but again... the smaller ones are ascended to the Tyrell Museum and I expect we'll be examining those in due course. I'll requisition SEMs of the surfaces of those for the presence of layered or embedded aragonite.

I'm more comfortable destroying specimens for this purpose because I've been granted access to the museum collection, dig site and a rather large inventory in storage.

This fall and next spring... we'll know more.


 
Awesome Dave! A 70 million year old pearl from Ammonites!
OMG I was not expecting your inspection system! And I basically do the same...thanks for sharing! Very educational...and please keep us posted on your findings!
 
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