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Product Description
Truly a museum grade display fossil CRINOID, this is a large prehistoric SEA LILY of the species Scyphocrinus elegans. The slab was formerly the bottom of the Silurian sea where a number of these creatures died and became buried still in their original articulated positions as they were when once alive. The relief and detail of this amazing specimen must be seen in person as it looks so much more impressive than the photos convey. While still alive today, sea lilies were much more prevalent in the ocean in prehistoric times.
Special highlights of why this piece is different than most offered are the unusually large size it is and the quality of the preparation and detail as well as the completeness of a large intact portion of this former crinoid colony. The majority of Moroccan crinoid slabs are painted with an ugly artificial black color on the fossil and dull red color over the original stone. Furthermore, the preservation and its preparation is often substandard. This specimen is far superior to what is usually encountered. There is none of the typical paint applied to this specimen which allows incredible detail to be seen as a result of the finest lab preparation of the slab.
The entire back of the slab is reinforced with epoxy and the overall thickness is only 1.5 to 2 inches on average making this an IDEAL wall mount display fossil.
There are numerous COMPLETE large crinoid specimens on this slab including their long stems and fully inflated calyxes. The closer one inspects this slab, the more rewarding the experience. There is so much minute detail preserved as seen in the photos above. What the photos do NOT show is how some of the sea lilies PROTRUDE dramatically off the slab front. Many large Moroccan crinoid slabs are pieced together and made up of small unrelated slab portions. You can see long stems and giant crinoid heads that span the entire slab on this specimen which indicates this is a truly original large portion of the crinoid bed and not one made up of smaller, unassociated parts. Furthermore, the concentration and completeness of these large crinoids far exceeds what is usually seen offered for sale.
For the ultimate commercial or residential interior design application, this is an extraordinarily fine quality and large fossil slab of the finest scientific grade showing a rare and visually intriguing AUTHENTIC AND ORIGINAL example of some of the earliest complex marine creatures on our planet.
