This past weekend, I visited this show (the 41st annual event). It is held on the first weekend after Labor Day, at the Hancock County 4-H Fairgrounds in Greenfield, Indiana. I have not been there in many years due to scheduling conflicts. But this year, the calendar finally had an open slot.
At the show, there are three venues: an open-air covered pavilion and two indoor spaces. There were dozens of dealers, offering fossils, minerals, gemstones, jewelry, and more. Two of the dealers offered fossils exclusively.
Yes, of course I did! I indulged by acquiring a trilobite. It’s a Russian bug: Pliomera fischeri. This one is prone, and will go nicely with the enrolled one I already have.
Figure 1. Pliomera fischeri [Ordovician, Asery Level, St. Petersburg, Russia]. Specimen is 2 1/8 inches long. Prepared by Mike Thomas.
Figure 2. Front view of the specimen from Figure 1. Note the unusual lobes on the front-center of the glabella, and the small “bumps” in the preglabellar region just below these lobes.
This specimen comes from a locality where dozens of trilobite species are found. Pliomera is one of the less common.
The next Greenfield show is September 7-9, 2018. So put it on your calendar. I have.
Don Bissett
A long-time member of the Dry Dredgers, I’ve been collecting fossils ever since moving to Cincinnati in 1975 to work at P&G. I was introduced to fossil collecting by Bruce Gibson, another Dry Dredger and co-worker at P&G. Shortly after that, I met Dredger Dan Cooper. Both of them taught me a lot about the hobby. Ever since, I’ve been hooked on fossils.
My primary focus is collecting trilobites and echinoderms, though I often find myself accumulating a much wider assortment of fossils. Beyond the collecting hobby, I’ve also had the opportunity to work with professional paleontologists – extremely rewarding experiences. Some of those have been described in Dry Dredger Bulletin articles, MAPS (Mid-American Paleontology Society) articles, and technical publications. I plan to share more about collecting and professional interactions in my blog posts.
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