As some of you already know, I’m a keen fossil collector.
It started ten years ago with the purchase of half an ammonite from Terrific Scientific, was fueled by our visit to the Somerville Museum in 2010, and has grown steadily (but slowly) from there.
It’s a hobby on which I’ve placed some strict rules. I focus on searching out small, interesting fossils which can fit on the mantlepiece in our dining room. The most I’ll allow myself to spend on a specimen is $200, and it has to be pretty special to warrant that kind of money – most of my fossils fall in the $15 – $50 range. Did you know that it’s possible to buy a 400 million year old mud trilobite for $10? I reckon every child should have one on their shelf.
If you’re keen on fossils and you live in Sydney, seek out our new friend Tom Ross-Clift, whom I met at the Rocks Market on Mother’s Day. Tom is the ultimate fossil retailer – he’s extremely knowledgeable and more than happy to share information; he’s totally honest, so you can be absolutely sure of not being stung with a fake; and because he imports directly, his prices are very reasonable.
His Mosman shop is called The Living Fossil Gallery, and like all galleries, people are welcome to walk in and view the items on display. Many of his pieces are museum quality (and priced accordingly), like this extremely rare Ammonite Speetoniceras Versicolor, with its chambers of gold, silver pyrite and calcium crystal ($4,000 for a matched pair)…
Tom’s great passion is for ammonites, and he has a wide range on offer…
I adore the feathery suture pattern on these – they’re actually the layer below the original exterior (which has worn or been polished away) and formed where the walls of the chambers joined up to the shell…
Here you can see both the original shell and the suture pattern underneath…
Ammonite fossils often developed an iridescent sheen. Polished pieces of shell from a rare species of ammonite found in Canada are now recognised as a precious gemstone called ammolite and used in fine jewellery…
Fossilised coral is rare and expensive…
This interesting carved piece is a crystalline formation known as a Septarian or Dragon’s Egg…
A rare Mosasaur jaw in original condition – many of these are “composite” or “rebuilt”, but this one is as it was found, and therefore extremely valuable. The composite ones are made up of teeth set into sandstone to look like a jaw (I’ve been caught out with one of those before)…
The gallery has lots of unusual crystals, like this pyrite cluster…
I love fossilised fish – there is a wide selection on offer from the Green River Formation in Wyoming, USA, starting at just $15. Because the surrounding rock is pale, these show up in great definition…
Pete and I popped in specifically in search of crinoids – I’ve wanted one ever since seeing them at the Somerville Museum. Unfortunately, they’ve always been very expensive and hard to find – the large 440m year old specimen below retails for over $1,000.
Known as “sea lilies”, these ancient marine animals would attach themselves to rocks and filter-feed in exactly the same way as their present day descendants do…
A large mammoth tusk is the newest addition to the gallery…
Did you know that fragments of mammoth tusks are the only legal form of ivory? Living Fossil creates its own range of carved tusk pendants and supplies pieces to a specialist knife maker in Melbourne…
…who incorporates them into these amazing Damascus steel knives (there’s more info on them here)…
The shelves are packed with enough treasure to fill a day of browsing…
There is a wide selection of trilobites, many in great detail and all guaranteed authentic – trilobites are the most commonly faked fossil around, so it’s important to buy them from someone you can trust…
I have a great passion for fossils “in the rough”. Whilst I love polished ammonites, there’s so much detail to be found in a piece like this one which has simply been cut out of the rock face…
In the end, I found my crinoid. It’s a gift from my mum (who gave me a red packet for my birthday – I think she hoped I’d spend the money on clothes) and yes, it was below my self-imposed price ceiling…
This diplomystus (a 45m year old herring-like fish) came home with us as well…
I admired this ammonite, but it was quite broken and had been extensively repaired, so lovely Tom gave it to us as a gift. Pete thought the shell looked like erupting volcanoes…
We spent a wonderful afternoon fossicking! If you’re interested in fossils, do pop in for a visit – Tom is in the store on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and at the Rocks Markets on Saturdays and Sundays.
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The Living Fossil Gallery
44 Spit Road
Mosman NSW 2088
www.livingfossil.com.au
Ph: 9968 1000 /0405 105 061
Email: info@livingfossil.com.au
Hours: Monday – Friday 10-5pm
Saturday 10-3pm
Open late by appointment.
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The Rocks Markets
Saturday & Sunday 9am – 5pm.
Playfair Street, Opposite Caminetto Italian Restaurant
The Rocks, Sydney, NSW
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Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
What an interesting place! I love fossils and would gladly spend a day browsing there. The ones in your pictures have so much detail. Simply grand.
What a wonderful gallery that I could get lost in for hours Celia!
Thank you for allowing me to learn something new about you too!
Celia, I would never have thought to be interested in fossils if not for your posts. Very interesting, indeed. Love those knives.
All so beautiful 😀
A fascinating interest to follow . . . personally can but ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ and want to know more . . . am personally drawn by the fossilized fish and want to read up more on the Damascus knives . . . another field where the more one knows the more one wants to know . . .
I didn’t know you were keen on fossils Celia. Mr Tiffin adores all things geographic, cavelike, stone based and fossilised. I can’t tell you the number of afternoons I have spent in caves in foreign countries. These are now on the ‘no go’ list for me, though I am more than happy for him to potter and visit. Anyway… one of his favourite fossils was bought off the side of the road at a truck stop in the Atlas Mountains. They had hundreds of them going for a song and I can only imagine how many had been pillaged and sold to make a few dollars. Not that I blame the people selling them. It’s probably the only way they could make any money. It is of course, an ammonite. I’ve shared this post with him – he’s in raptures.
Another interest Celia! I love the fish fossil you bought – artfully beautiful.
I can imagine that our Erik who is a little scientist would adore your collection, and truthfully I wouldn’t mind one myself to put on my mantle. A piece of art made by nature. Beautiful. So nice to visit your blog after a long absence. I was sad to have missed your past two months of IMK. Life just got so busy. But fortunately there is always next month.
Celia, what a treat to experience your personally guided “tour” of this fossil museum over coffee this morning! Wonderful specimens and a thrill to see. I also loved the crystals and geodes and rocks. Thank you!
Beautiful and so glad you found a lovely gift from your mum with your red packet! Love finding out about people’s hobbies, it opens new doors for us all. When you come to England to visit (!) we will have to go to the Dorset Coast and go fossil hunting! We took Big Man’s grand daughter to the British Museum of Natural History a few weeks ago when she visited from Spain to go and see the dinosaurs – it was great fun :)
What a fun day! The boys also love “fossils”, as in old looking rocks they find out and about! The fossilized fish are fantastic as are the knives.
These are all such amazing photos & you’ve captured the details so well. They’re really beautiful specimens. I love them all but those fossilized fish seem to really capture my attention.
I love nautilus shells and those ammonites look a lot like them. I have had a lot of life lessons involving nautilus in the past. I have a single small fossil that Steve found on a river bank near here on my kitchen window with the rest of my fossicked stuff. Cheers for sharing this wondrous place, Ms Celia. I would, most probably, turn into one of those sad people who licked windows if I came within window-licking distance of this amazing place :)
I love them — they make my fingers itch to draw them! Have you read “dry storeroom no. 1” about the natural history museum?
Anne, tell me which ones you’d like to draw and I’ll try and take better photos of them for you next time I’m in! And no, haven’t read it, but I’ll look out for it, thanks! :)
Now there’s a challenge! I will have a closer look when I am not sitting on a crowded tram…..
Sorry about that disjointed comment above. I had to post it In a hurry because the tram was at its last stop! I think that is what the book is called, and it is a fascinating insight into the Natural History Museum in London, written by Richard Fogarty (?) the expert on trilobites.
Also, I love how your passions go from the immediacy of cooking to the ancient of fossil hunting!
I know the gallery and have admired the collection many times. How lovely of your mother to give you a red packet for your birthday – always handy and it sounds like you were able to get yourself something very much on your wish list. I can’t believe you were in Mosman and we didn’t catch up – it would have been lovely to see you xx
i love love fossils and have quite a few myself. i have a fish from utah certified to be authentic and many millions of years old. it is such a wonderful hobby! and i am fairly sure i bought one from that very man in the rocks market.
I’ve never been there but I’d love to spend a few hours perusing every single thing.
They are quite beautiful Celia. I feel a similar thrill when I put my hand on the stones of an ancient building – just being able to touch something that has been in existence for ‘ever’.
Absolutely fascinating. I’d never want to leave. But I’d have to leave the credit card at home!
What a fascinating collection! Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
I love Crinoids! I’ll send you some photos of ones I collected out in the back of Carnarvon, WA! Not anywhere as good as the ones you bought but nice none the less :-)
I’ve got some of those fossilised fish – KP bought them in Lebanon – they are so beautiful.
This is absolutely gorgeous, Celia. It reminds me of the first time I went snorkeling and saw those breathtaking corals in blue water with my own eyes instead of over TV. Very nice! Thanks a lot for sharing this with us.