|  Description:
In March and July of 2008 I had the unique privilege of purchasing
two large lots from a most important collection. The collector had
painstakinglyaccumulated 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.
Presented
here is a marvelous fossil fish from a locality of great historical
provenance. The Sparnodus was reassembled from about five large
pieces. The master craftsmen who perform this curation have not
changed their methods for hundreds of years.  (Please
read below for more information) Fossils from the Monte Bolca Quarry
are perhaps the most collectable of all fossil fish. Famous for
hundreds of years and noted for their beauty, preservation and rarity.
Because of these factors and lack of future availability, specimens
of this size and quality above reproach are considered investment
grade fossils of the highest degree.
The
Monte Bolca quarry has a fascinating and illustrious history. Here
are a few comments by the collector, from whom I acquired this specimen.
 “The
Bolca Quarry is a fantastic place. They mine these fish by boring
tunnels deep into the hillside following the seam where the fossil
fish layer goes into the mountain. The same family has owned this
quarry for almost four hundred years. When the weathered matrix
is split the fish open, but the rock ALWAYS shatters; so all but
the smallest Bolca fish are "repaired." The bigger ones
(any bigger than this, and of course the REALLY big ones) are
often put back together from dozens of pieces. These fish have
been collected for CENTURIES, and were considered during the crusades
(yep, THOSE crusades. THE crusades) to be remains of the last
supper (WOW.) and are still considered to this day by many as
evidence of the great flood... (again, wow.) Kings of Europe collected
them for their sheer beauty and rarity. The Italian government
considers Bolca fossils to be a national treasure, and as such,
while the government has granted permission for the quarry owners
to sell the fish again after many years of prohibition, the tax
collectors take approximately half of all proceeds.”
This
specimen is the positive side of the plate. (You may recall that
I had posted the negative side a few months ago on my first lot
purchase from the collector. That specimen was recently purchased.)
All the physical structures are present, including some teeth, fins,
backbone, ribs, spines skull and body parts. Sparnodus from the
Bolca Quary site are represented by two species, S. vulgaris (Blainville,
1818) and S. elongatus Agassiz, 1839. I don’t have sufficient
background information to positively id this one yet, but am still
trying.
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