Collectors Corner

Everyone loves to collect. The world's greatest museums started with individual collectors who wanted to share their 'discoveries' with others.

In this section of our site offers you can display your finds on our site and share them with others.
Send us photos of the fossils or minerals you have found or perhaps send us a picture of your collection.
We will help you identify them and possibly display them in our gallery.

Receive a free mineral prize for entries that we display.

Read Junior Geo's policy on user submitted material

Send your entries to: "Collectors' Corner" - 21 Cornwall Road, Dorchester DT1 1RU
or email: gallery@juniorgeo.co.uk

East England

Walton on the Naze (Essex)		April 2005
Lesley, James & Millie from London

View of the beach	Fossilised wood - indicating the rocks were deposited on or near land	The beach is often best place to look for fossils.
	This is a gastropod (snail) called neptunea contraria. It was found in the Red Crag Formation from the Pleistocene (2 million years old). Did you know...? Most gastropod shells are right-handed (dextral). Neptunia contraria is very unusual because the opening of the shell is on the left. (sinistral).
	These are bivalve shells known as Glycimeris glycimeris. The holes you can see were made when the animal was still alive and were the cause of death. They were made by a hole-drilling snail called Natica. It used its tongue to make the hole and then eat its victim alive.

Ireland

Greater London

The Midlands

North England

A Collection of fossils from Keeley in Sheffield		Date: Feb 2007

A good example of a Dactylioceras from the Whitby area.	A lovely fossilised leaf and a well preserved belemnite.	Some Eocene shark teeth, a belemnite plus a persiphinctes ammonite (looking at the ribs on the shell).

Peter Clough aged 7 from Wirral sent in some pictures from his collection

A great ammonite (dactylioceras) fossil from Port Mulgrave, plus an assortment of fossils and minerals from Peter's collection.

Northern Ireland

Scotland

Yesnaby, Orkney		Date: August 2006
Found By: Melanie

Some algal stromatolite fossils from the Mid Devonian "Old Red Sandstone" rocks formation of Orkney. Around 350 million years ago, The landmass of Orkney was a sub-tropical fresh water lake. Stromatolites are algal organisms that grow in mats or mounds. They are one of the earliest groups of organic life on Earth. The oldest fossils in the world are a group of stromatolite from Western Australia that lived about 3.4 billion years ago.

South East England

Hanover Point, Isle of wight		August 2005
Isaac & Bill from London

You are looking at real dinosaur footprints! These are believed to be from an iguanadon that left deep foot prints in mud when it walked across a swamp or shallow lake. The impression of the three-clawed foot prints have since been preserved as casts. Sediements filled the hole that was originally left behind. There are several of the trace fossil footprints to be found at Hanover Point. You can see three of them above. They tend to fall out of the cliff as it is eroded. This type of fossil is known as a trace fossil because the only thing to be preserved is the evidence of an animal's movements whilst alive. Did you know? The study of trace fossils is known as Ichnology.

Pevensey Bay, East Sussex		August 2005
Emma and Esther from Eastbourne

Thanks to Emma and Esther from Eastbourne for sending their pictures of this well preserved sea urchin or echinoid. It is made of flint which itself is composed of tiny crystals of quartz. Fossils made of flint are quite rare but they are often preserved in great detail. Sea urchins and starfish belong to a group if creatures called echinoderms. They possess five-fold symmetry and this is why starfish have five legs.

South West England

Lyme Regis, Dorset		August 2007
Harvey from Grantham

These pieces of ammonite were found by Harvey whilst on holiday in Lyme Regis. He found all of these within half an hour.

Lyme Regis, Dorset		September 2005
Jacob from West Yorkshire

This fantastic ammonite was found at Lyme Regis by Jacob aged 10 who is very keen on both fossils and archaeology.

Charmouth Beach, Devon		March 2005
Lesley, James & Millie from London


These ammonite fossils were collected at Charmouth Beach in the Easter holidays


East Quantoxhead, Somerset		Feb 2007
Chelsea, aged 10 from Gravesend in Kent sent us these pictures of the various fossil ammonites she found at Quantoxhead.


East Quantoxhead, Somerset		August 2005
Bill & Isaac from London with Discovering Fossils

Isaac poses for photos with giant arnioceras ammonite fossil.

Roy Shepherd from Discovering Fossils gave this boulder an experienced tap with his hammer and look what happened!

Seatown Beach, Dorset		September 2005
Seamus from Chichester, West Sussex

Many thanks to Seamus (age 6) for sending in these images of what is probably a fossilised bone from a marine creature such as an ichthyosaur. The bone is the long black object in the puctures above and is about 15cm long. It is interesting to note the presence of ammonite and oyster shell fossils which indicates that this rock was deposited in a fairly shallow sea. These creatures died between 180-130 in the Lias stage of the Lower Jurassic.

Wales

The Rest of the World

Mauritius			November 2005
Marc from Mauritius

		Collection of Geodes

The left-hand view of Marc's Stone Collection	The right-hand view of Marc's stone collection	Amethyst Collection
This fantastic mineral and fossil display was carefully laid out and photographed by Marc who is already a keen collector at the age of 8. Living in Mauritius, Marc must be our most distant viewer!

Malta			July 2008
The fossils are: (left to right) echinoids, fish bone, oyster, ammonite, gastropods and a collection of shark teeth. They are from Xwejni Bay in Gozo, Malta and were found by Mathew Axiak.