Lot 55B
North Africa, Morocco, Anti-Atlas Mountains, Ordovician, ca. 485 to 443 million years ago. This is a fossil of a trilobite (Asaphid Trilobite), a rare, unnamed species, with a stunning natural red color, well-preserved in the original matrix. Size: 12.25" L x 14.25" W x 9.5" H (31.1 cm x 36.2 cm x 24.1 cm)
This ULTRA-RARE spiny-tailed Asaphus trilobite with an AUTHENTIC tail spine is truly an extraordinary find. The color appears to be a form of red ochre which is found throughout the African continent, made up on anhydrous iron (III) oxide. In certain Ordovician beds in the Northwestern Sahara Desert, it occasionally occurs in certain trilobite fossils but it is uncommon as the normal color is brown or yellowish-brown and when stained with natural limonite, yellowish-orange. This specimen has a fantastic salmon red color that can also be verified as original by the presence of an existing natural edge of the host rock to prove its color origin, shown in a photo above. Caution should be exercised if you ever see this type available for sale as it is popular for the Moroccan fakers to make these with a genuine ordinary Asaphus trilobite of the tail-less variety with an artificially attached tail spine on its end. There are features shown above that provide definitive proof of the authenticity of this trilobite and the originality and authenticity of its graceful tail spine.
This trilobite is a scientifically undescribed species belonging to the Asaphidae family. The presence of the tail spine is what makes this trilobite so rare. Asaphid trilobites do not normally possess such anatomy. This specimen was found in Ordovician rock from the Anti-Atlas mountains in southern Morocco along the Northern Sahara. The overall preservation of the body is rough but fully mineralized. Both eyes are visible as are the body segments. This piece looks much better in person than the photos convey. The host rock is original did not sustain the typical extensive damage by extraction in the field. A few fractures in the end running through the tail actually HELP to positively demonstrate the tail spine's authenticity because hey can be seen running through the spine and also where the tail meets the body. The cephalon and thorax protrude dramatically off the rock.
Provenance: Purchased from a US collection in 2004.
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#120936
- Condition: Minor repair but no fabrication; natural colors with no enhancement
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