Since I am not an expert, but still would like to know what I found, I am learning to use other people’s websites – I feel no need to reinvent the wheel. đ
Cleaning
When cleaning your find, DO NOT hit it with acid, vinegar, toilet cleaner, lime away, etc. Same with crinoids, it will dissolve them! Use water and a toothbrush only.
Resources
Go to the “Trilobite ID Rock” that Caleb Scheer provided for us, HERE. Study it a little. Still think you have a trilobite?
Then go to Caleb’s website: Midwestpaleo.com or just click on this LINK.
This link will take you directly to trilobites found in our area. He separates them by Formation. So that is why it is important to take a guess at what Formation you are in. When in doubt, at least try to determine if it was shale or bedrock, that will at least help you to narrow the field.
Then he has lists of trilobites found in our area. You can research those if you like.
And/or you can then go to his photo gallery of trilobites with names. But remember that these are all professionally prepared and unless the Trilobite Gods have truly smiled upon you, yours will be buried in matrix with only a bit peeking out.
On the sidebar I also have Sam Gon’s trilobite site. Over 5,000 species of trilobites worldwide, but lots of interesting information on trilobites.
Still not sure?
Go to thefossilforum.com
Create an account on thefossilforum.com – also a link on the sidebar.  Then take a clear, closeup photo of the fossil in question, preferably with some kind of scale to it – A penny? A ruler? A tape measure? – and post it in the Fossil ID section.
Note the…
Period (Around here either Ordovician or in the SW corner of Fillmore County perhaps Devonian), the
Formation (Yes, they really need this to ID it and that is why it is on Caleb’s site and Caleb let me use his Formation graphic on my website.), and
Approximately where you found it – Fillmore County, SE MN, NE IA, you get the picture.
Now wait for at least 24 hours before you thank them for their efforts in IDing your fossil. Why wait a day when you may get an answer within an hour? Because the first answer may not be right! I’ve had this happen to me many times! And yes, do thank them for their efforts on your behalf! It also brings your post to the top of the list again, so that others may read it and know what you found.
You are hoping that either Caleb or Piranah (Trilobite Experts) will attempt to ID your find.
RARE FOSSILS
So, you found a really rare trilobite? I did! Celtencrinurus! And I gave it to Caleb Scheer (Midwestpaleo.com with his business email being: midwestfossils@gmail.com) who will prep it and eventually their complete collection or trilobites will go to the University of Iowa. But my name will stay on it as “Collected by…”
You can always ask Caleb to send you a picture of it after it is prepped. Then have a photo made of it, frame it, add a little note that you donated your RARE specimen to the University of Iowa (Perhaps the premier paleotological university in the midwest.) via the Midwestpaleo.com collection, and hang it on your wall. This will actually impress people more than the specimen itself!
Why would I do that? If you sell it, your name doesn’t go with it and how much you will get for it is questionable. If you keep it and show it to all your family and friends, you will quickly see that “I don’t care” glazed look in their eyes. They don’t know what they are looking at and they don’t really care. It’s a rock to them.
And if something happens to you, your fossils will probably end up in the driveway, given away, or sold to someone who may not know what they are buying. It is lost to science. This way, your extraordinary find is preserved for science in a collection of extraordinary fossils. And perhaps, a hundred years from now a scientist will pick it up and see “Collected by…” and isn’t that a little piece of immortality?  đ
