I’ve always been fascinated by fossils, and have collected a few during my travels. I’ve recently given a few away to kids, so my collection is now even smaller.

Here is what’s left of my small collection, sitting on a piece of ripply fossilised sea-bed, from the Flinders Ranges:

I won’t ever be giving away the large shell, which is a Brachiopod my father found in Andamooka:

I’m also quite fond of my larger ammonite. It’s a semi-opalised Craspedodiscus ammonite, and looks nicer in real life when you can tilt it & see the areas of red opalescence:

Some absolutely gorgeous Craspedodiscus ammonites have been found in Madagascar. Have a look at these photos from the web:

The most spectacular ammonite fossils have to be huge ammonites fossilised into Ammolite. Ammolite has recently been recognised as a new type of gemstone (with biological origin):

Below are a couple of enormous, spectacular opalised Ammonite fossils which I could’ve bought in Ketchikan, Alaska. To this day, I regret not buying the larger one of these:

South Australian Museum fossil collection:

Opalised plesiosaur from Andamooka
The photos of this do not do it justice. When viewing the exhibit in person, the lighting & reflections from the perspex enclosure aren’t an issue, and it is spectacular:

Opalised Ichthyosaur spines:

Ediacaran biota fossils, from the Flinders Ranges: