**Originally Listed At $200**

Ancient seas, Paleozoic period, ca. 300 to 400 million years ago. A fantastic fossilized specimen that shows off a pair of well preserved brachiopods, a prehistoric clam, with both valves closed and displayed on a piece of shale. The top of one has an abrasion that reveals some of the interior crystalized quartz, a result of the fossilization process. These brachiopods are positioned on a piece of shale as they might have looked when in a colony comprised of dozens of other calms, and the shale also includes a partial shell fossil on its surface. Brachiopods are a type of clam with two shells, or valves, that died out during the Triassic extinction, but have over 400 living relatives in the clam and mollusk family today! Size of shale: 3.75" L x 1.75" H (9.5 cm x 4.4 cm); larger clam: 1.75" L (4.4 cm)

Provenance: ex-estate of Eldert Bontekoe, Pegasi Numismatics, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA acquired before 2000

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.

#159331

Stable surface fissures from fossilization process. Abrasion to the top of one. Both are nicely mounted on shale with nearly indiscernible adhesive.