Museum Quality Carboniferous Fern Fossil St. Clair Mine PA #6, Walnut Mounted

My Dad brought this back from a trip to the St. Clair Mine store in Schuylkill County, PA, in 1957.  The mine was notable for the abundance of plant fossils found in the Llewellyn Formation (300 mya, Pennsylvanian Period) and are one of the few places where one can find these very detailed white, sometimes yellow and orange ferns on a striking contrast of black shale. This specimin is notable in presenting all 3 colors. The plants died and fell into the swamp, where in a low temperature, pressure, and oxygen environment the plant tissue were slowly replaced by pyrite (from sulphides). Pyrophyllite (aluminum silicate, a whitish mineral) is believed to have replaced the pyrite at a later stage as the sediments piled up and the temperature and pressure became greater. The ferns most commonly found are Alethopteris, Neuropteris, Pecopteris, and Sphenophyllum. The mine and site is no longer open for excavation and those available are truly priceless.

My Dad mounted this for a show-and-tell 3rd grade presentation I gave in 1960!

Mounted Size: 14-1/2" w x 9" h

4.4 pounds (2kg), mounted

Can be hung, of using the removable prop displayed on a desk