Life-like 3D Orbitoplax Crab Fossil from Oregon

Description: This is a very well preserved specimen of Orbitoplax. Both arms and claws are exquisitely preserved. Six legs are present. One eyestalk, the right, is mostly intact. Note the excellent preservation of the arms, claws and pincers. The specimen is fully 3D. It exhibits a tan/brown color set off nicely against the light gray background concretion. It was discovered by cracking the concretion in which it was residing for so many millions of years. The concretion was then re-glued and painstakingly curated with air abrasion. (The positive never splits cleanly from the negative in these concretions.) Many hours of skilled work are required to prepare one of these crab concretions.

In March and July of 2008 I had the unique privilege of purchasing two large lots from a most important collection. The collector had painstakingly accumulated a superb group of decapods, echinoderms and other fossils during a twenty-year period. The vast majority of the specimens came from self-collecting, academic resources, trading, and selected purchases. Very few of fossils came from the normal channels of trade shows and commercial internet resources. Any specimen presented under this introductory paragraph will generally be a superior collector grade fossil; be it of rarity, preservation, or, both.