14.4" Cut & Polished Ammonite (Speetoniceras) Fossil With Druzy Pyrite

This is a large, 14.4" (each) wide Speetoniceras ammonite fossil from the Lower Cretaceous deposits of the Volga River in Russia. It has been cut in half and polished, revealing the inner chamber structure. The chambers are filled with a mixture of calcite (simbircite?) and druzy pyrite crystals. There is an additional cross section of an ammonite fossil within one of these chambers. Much of the pyrite that surrounded this ammonite has been left over its exterior. This is a gorgeous display piece and it comes with a stand to facilitate aesthetic presentation of each half.

Under both short and long-wave UV, the calcite fluoresces a white color. There has been some restoration and repair to the ammonite. Several cracks have been repaired and filled on the backside and it's likely some of the pyrite has been added.

Ammonites were predatory cephalopod mollusks that resembled squids with spiral shells. They are more closely related to living octopuses, though their shells resemble that of nautilus species. True ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago during the Triassic Period. The last lineages disappeared 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous.

What an ammonite would have looked like while alive.
What an ammonite would have looked like while alive.
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DETAILS
SPECIES
Speetoniceras sp.
LOCATION
Volga river, Ulyanovsk region, Russia
SIZE
Each half 14.4" wide
CATEGORY
SUB CATEGORY
ITEM
#175077
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