Rare Odontocephalus - One Of The Best Ever Found

This is one of the best specimens of Odontocephalus aegeria ever found in Pennsylvania. The locality where these unique trilobites come from was collected out in the 80's. A friend of mine visited the quarry a year or two ago to see if it could be reopened and determined that they could not access the productive layers anymore even with the use of heavy machinery.

The specimens that were collected back in the 80's were crudely prepared using acid etching. This destroyed the shell which was then "recreated" using shoe polish. So, nearly all of the specimens of Odontocephalus in existence don't have actually shell.

This specimen come from a small lot that was discovered unprepared wrapped in newspaper in the basement of a collector several years ago. These specimens were then prepared using the latest preparation techniques. This is one of only a handful of Odontocephalus from Pennsylvania that have actual shell preserved.

What makes this one so special is that unlike most of the Odontocephalus it exhibits very little compression. I had one other specimen from this lot back in the fall I thought was the last one but there was one other unprepared and this one ended up being far nicer because of the lack of compression. You can even see the eye facets still preserved in the right eye. The only restoration some minor shell restoration along the repaired cracks that run through the body.