Why we are selling trilobites

Everyone knows the joys of being a field collector of trilobites but part of the pitfalls of being a field collector is that everything one finds is in “field condition”. What the normal collector of trilobites see on the market has generally been, more or less, prepared. This preparation can sometimes (rarely) consist of simply trimming the specimen by means of a hammer and chisel or more likely a rock saw to an appropriate size to fit in a drawer or box. Everything gets complicated beyond this and almost every field collector I know has acquired additional equipment for the purpose of preparing ones trilobites. Even at that, the field collector easily and hopefully early on recognizes the limitations of their ability. That being as it is the field collector can acquire boxes of unprepped, or beyond our ability to prep, trilobites.

To make matters worse, some of us enjoy the study of trilobites so instead of just numbers of whole trilobites lying about, we pick up parts for the purpose of study.  Now, not only do we have unprepped specimens, we acquire boxes of hypostomes, pygidia, librigena, cephalons, glabellas, etc., all requiring some sort of preparation.

So now, the problem is compounded by the realization that the field collector needs to solicit more skilled individuals for the purposes of prepping those specimens felt to be of exceptional quality or intricacy. Not being naïve, it is easily recognized that those individuals skilled at the art of preparation require compensation. Not being the heir of any vast estate, or having the desire to pilfer the retirement fund or the children’s inheritance one is faced with the dilemma of raising the capital to finance the preparation of specimens. This quickly escalates into a catch 22 scenario. The more one desires prepped specimens the more cash one has to acquire.

Here-in lays the purpose of this website page. Presented are UMV trilobites offered for sale in order to facilitate the preparation of additional trilobites in the collection. Processes that will probably persist until we can no longer call ourselves field collectors. Hopefully, our dilemma allows you the opportunity to acquire specimens for your own collections.

All shipping charges are included in the listed price of the trilobite.  All trilobites will be shipped via USPS fully insured to the purchased price with a tracking number.  The prefered payment method is PayPal, but we can arrange other payment options if needed.

Al & Caleb