From shimmering rainbow ammonites to gorgeously preserved dinosaur bones, Sotheby’s offers fossils from the Cambrian to the Cretaceous. Find T. rex teeth alongside beautifully prepared fossil fish and sea lilies. Sotheby’s makes the wonders of deep time available to you today.

Fossils

Cleoniceras AmmoniteCleoniceras sp.Early Cretaceous Period, Albian Stage (approx. 110 million years ago)Mahajanga, Madagascar A well-preserved ammonite shell polished to exhibit its interesting and complex suture patterns. The shell is naturally compressed, a normal feature of&nbsp;Cleoniceras&nbsp;fossils. Alongside trilobites and dinosaurs, ammonites are among the most iconic fossils. Ammonites swam the seas freely during the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods, evolving rapidly and leaving abundant examples in the fossil record. Scientists estimate that there were at least 10,000 species of ammonite during their roughly 150-million-year reign on Earth, and possibly up to 20,000 species. The outermost layer of ammonite shells was made up of aragonite, a type of calcium carbonate, which provided strong protection and allowed ammonites to fossilize much more readily than animals that either had a soft shell or lacked a shell. Because ammonites rapidly evolved into new species and their shells were prone to fossilization, they have been crucial for scientists interested in dating the Earth's layers: finding the same species of ammonite in layers of soil thousands of miles apart implies that those layers are from the same time period in Earth's history. Ammonites are cephalopods, a class of mollusk that includes present-day nautilus, octopus, and squid.&nbsp;Cleoniceras&nbsp;lived during the Albian Stage of the Early Cretaceous Period, roughly 110 million years ago. This fossil shows gorgeous and intricate suture lines where the walls separating each chamber, known as septa, joined the wall of the shell. Although scientists once believed that the intricate suture lines strengthened the shell and supported the animals in deep waters, it is now believed that the suture lines helped with buoyancy regulation and made it harder for predators to puncture their shells. Ammonite suture lines are unique to each species, and thus the patterns on different ammonites help with species identification. Please note: This item is excluded from complimentary shipping. Shipping quote will be calculated at time of purchase.

Cleoniceras Ammonite

Brittle Star PairOphiuroidea - species unidentifiedLate Ordovician Period (approx. 450 million years ago)Ktaoua Formation, Erfoud Region, Morocco Well-preserved articulated bodies with elongate and outstretched waving arms in matrix. Surface detail is incomplete in some areas but does not detract from complete body outlines. Closely related to starfish, brittle stars differ from their more well-known cousins by having five long, thin, and flexible arms clearly separated from their central disc. Although there are more than 2,000 living species of brittle stars, their remains in the fossil record are extremely limited, making them quite a bit rarer than starfish. One of the reasons for their relative scarcity is that the ossicles lining the bodies of ophiuroids easily detach, hence the term "Brittle Star." Therefore, brittle star fossils only remained intact if they were buried quickly under sediment or if the seabed in which their bodies were deposited remained undisturbed by violent currents, geological forces, or hungry scavengers. Please note: This item is excluded from complimentary shipping. Shipping quote will be calculated at time of purchase.

Brittle Star Pair

Monumental Sea Lily (Crinoid) ColonySeirocrinus subangularisEarly Jurassic Period (approx. 180 million years ago)Upper Middle Epsilon Layer, Posidonia Shale, Holzmaden, Germany A mass mortality of pyritized, golden sea lilies (crinoids) preserved in high relief, clustered and tangled in a huge, polished shale matrix. These large specimens have been meticulously prepared at the&nbsp;Urwelt-Museum Hauff in Holzmaden, Germany, rendering exquisite detail. The important segmentation and body outlines of these extinct creatures are displayed as they may have appeared in life, still anchored to their driftwood base. A MUSEUM-GRADE MONUMENTAL SEA LILY COLONY PRESERVED IN POSIDONIA SHALE, ONLY A HANDFUL OF COMPARABLE SPECIMENS EXIST GLOBALLY, MOST HELD BY INSTITUTIONS This monumental fossil mural features a complete colony of crinoids — marine invertebrates colloquially known as "sea lilies" — that lived 180 million years ago in the prehistoric Tethys Ocean that covered much of present-day Europe and Asia. Found in the&nbsp;world-renowned Holzmaden Lagerstätte, this uncommonly complete colony of crinoids on driftwood has been preserved in full three-dimensional articulation and prepared in the workshop of the Urwelt-Museum Hauff in Holzmaden, Germany. Living almost their entire lives attached to the piece of driftwood seen here, these crinoids flourished in a rich underwater world alongside other marine animals including fish, ammonites, and belemnites. As sessile filter feeders, crinoids relied on the movement of the driftwood or floating debris to which they were attached to venture into areas with adequate food supply. Crinoids were nevertheless able to bend their stalks and flex and extend their arms — the five central appendages in their crowns — so that their mouths could face the water current to capture potential food. Crinoids bred once a year when their eggs or sperm were released into the water. Once the eggs were released from the parent and fertilized, the resulting embryo would attach itself to a solid substrate such as driftwood where it would develop for several days into a barrel-shaped, free swimming larva. After several more days, the larva would reattach to the driftwood and develop a rudimentary stem, mouth, and five small arm-like tentacles known as podia. After several more weeks, the crinoid would reach the stalked, sessile stage, where it formed true arms, feather-like pinnules, and a complete set of podia that covered the pinnules and helped move food toward the mouth. After about a year of life, the crinoid would become fertile and produce either eggs or sperm, thus continuing the propagation of the species. Eventually, these crinoids succumbed to death and became buried on the sea floor, where the low-oxygen environment allowed for their pristine preservation and fossilization. Over millions of years, the sediment and animal remains surrounding this crinoid colony petrified and became the dark grey Posidonia shale seen here, now famously extracted from the quarries of Holzmaden, Germany. Please note: This item is excluded from complimentary shipping. Shipping quote will be calculated at time of purchase.

Monumental Sea Lily (Crinoid) Colony

Placenticeras costatumLate Cretaceous Period (approx. 71 million years ago)Bearpaw Formation, Alberta, Canada A&nbsp;large, exceptional specimen displaying superb mineralization in ammolite on both faces, with shimmering and iridescent reds, greens, yellows, blues, and purples. The colors shift in hue and intensity as they diffract light from different viewing angles. Along with amber and pearl, ammolite is one of the world's few biogenic substances. Resembling the inorganic opal, it is found exclusively in the shells of ammonites that have undergone the fossilization process known as permineralization. The quality of gem ammolite is determined by a number of factors, with the first and most obvious being its number of primary colors—reds and greens are somewhat common, while blues and purples appear much more rarely. Also of great significance is the range of the ammolite's chromatic shift, graded by the way its colors change in hue and intensity as they diffract light when viewed from different angles. Lastly, an ammolite's magnitude of iridescence also impacts its quality and worth, with the finest specimens displaying large and uninterrupted swaths of lustrous, rainbow-like colors. Ammonites such as this one lived approximately 70 million years ago in the Western Interior Seaway, a large ocean that once cut North America in half from the Arctic Circle to the Gulf of Mexico.&nbsp; Please note: This item is excluded from complimentary shipping. Shipping quote will be calculated at time of purchase.

Large Iridescent Ammonite

Large Lotus Lily Pad with Fossil Fish&nbsp;Nelumbo sp.Early Eocene Epoch (approx. 52-48 million years ago)Green River Formation, Lincoln Co., Wyoming Lotus lily pads are an uncommon find in Wyoming’s Green River Formation. Whereas most fossil lily pad discoveries measure between four and eight inches in diameter, this example measures 19 inches across, making it one of the larger specimens known to exist. The veins of the lily pad are remarkably well preserved, and the skeletal remains of fossil fish can be seen both on the surface of the leaf and in the surrounding matrix. Extant lotuses are esteemed for their delicate and alluring fragrance and fossil lotuses would also have been quite aromatic, raising their body temperature to release their scent and attract pollinators. Please note: This item may not qualify for complimentary shipping. Shipping quote will be calculated at time of purchase.

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