ULTRA RARE HAMMATOCERAS AMMONITE FROM TURKEY

Eskesehir, Turkey

JURASSIC PERIOD (LIAS - TOARCIAN SUBSTAGE):  184 - 175 million years ago

For the ultimate in RARE provenances, add this Hammatoceras ammonite to your collection and you can boast of having a specimen from an exotic location that your colleagues will certainly not have nor be able to get!  Turkey has always strictly forbid any export of its fossils making acquiring specimens from this country impossible.  We just recently acquired this Hammatoceras species ammonite from a very old private German collection legally exported with the country's permission decades ago by a member of a German team of geological research contractors working in Turkey.  Turkey has always protected and forbid export of its fossils outside of specific government authority hence the absence of any specimens on the market.  This is an ultra-rare opportunity to own the otherwise impossible!  It is the first time we have ever encountered a fossil from Turkey available for sale outside of the country.  

This ammonite is complete with no breakage but parts of the shell did not fully fossilize so small regions are missing on the outer whorl.  Matrix has been removed on both sides but was difficult to completely remove from the centrum so display side center is carved only on the innermost whorl.  Other side has the centrum intact but unprepared.  Excellent natural inner chamber anatomy can be seen across the entire fossil and is shown in the last photo above.  Be one of the few people outside of Turkey to have the privilege of owning such a fossil!  INTACT WITH NO REPAIR.  RARE - RARE - RARE!

Ammonites are extinct members of the Cephalopod class.  Modern members include nautilus, squid and octopus.  They first appeared during the Silurian Period (435 million to 410 million years ago) and were abundant and widespread in the seas of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (175 million to 65 million years ago).  Ammonites are important index fossils—that is, they often link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods.

Ammonites varied greatly in size.  The largest known as small as 2 cm (0.75 in) in diameter.  During the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, ammonites evolved more streamlined shells for swimming and the structure of the shell became stronger.  Different shell shapes emerged as well, such as snail-like or uncoiled.   

The shells of ammonites had hollow chambers separated by walls called septa.  A tube called the siphuncle, connected the body with the chambers allowing the animal to fill them with water or air, changing its buoyancy in order to rise or drop in the ocean.  Only the last and largest chamber was occupied by the living animal.  

Ammonites probably lived for one to six years, with the majority living two to four years.  They fed on plankton (tiny free-floating organisms), sea lilies, and smaller orthoceras.  Although many fed off the ocean floor, others may have caught plankton while floating or swimming via jet propulsion, expelling water through a funnel-like opening to propel themselves in the opposite direction.

Because ammonites lived exclusively in marine environments, their presence also indicates the location of prehistoric seas.

ULTRA RARE PROVENANCE FROM A COUNTRY THAT STRICTLY FORBIDS FOSSIL EXPORT!

EX-OLD GERMAN PRIVATE COLLECTION MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO LEGALLY OWN THIS RARE SPECIMEN

6.75" wide x 5.6" high

$395     AMX-043     INCLUDES STAND     Actual Item - One Only

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