Pair of Opal Replaced Belemnite (Peratobelus) Fossils - Australia

This is one of those fossils that just makes your jaw drop! It's a pair of opal replaced belemnite (Peratobelus sp.) fossils mined from the Bulldog Shale at Coober Pedy, Australia. The belemnites measure 3.1" and 1.45" long, and are beautifully displayed on a 6 x 5.4" chunk of soft clay stone. The largest belemnite has a repaired crack with a small amount of gap fill.

Both of the belemnites are replaced by gem quality opal and have been prepped and remounted on stone from the same location. The color of this opal shines brilliantly when hit by light from various angles. These fossils are Early Cretaceous in age, or approximately 120 million years old.

Coober Pedy is a famous opal mining town in South Australia and the mines have occasionally produced opal replaced fossils in the past. The mines are no longer active as the extraction of opal is no longer economical, so these fossils are becoming extremely rare.

Belemnites are probably the most well known extinct cephalopod after the ammonites. They lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and are fairly common fossils found throughout the world. They had a hard, internal, cone-shaped structure that is often preserved as a fossil, though it is not technically a shell. They had ten arms but, unlike modern squid, these arms had small hooks instead of suckers.

Please note that Australia has strict fossil export laws. This specimen was exported legally with all of the required permits.

$16,500

SPECIES

Peratobelus sp.

AGE

Early Cretaceous (~120 Million Years)