These were found in one small creek in Missouri and are known as Indiana Geodes and were suppose to have been deposited by a glacier during the last Ice Age. The photo of the bottom is to show what it looked like when found, and some have been sawn in half, and the magic was displayed.
What is interesting about this item is the reddish material is soft and if you add water, it becomes a reddish like paint. Possible Native Americans would have used such an item. Plus, a geode in such a soft material.
The following items were purchases.
I found this about forty years ago in a small creek in St. Louis next to an apartment complex I lived in. It is a Receptaculites and is believed to be from the Ordovician ( 493-493 Million years to Permian era (290-248 Million years ago).
I had some folks look at this and they think it a coral fossil. It always reminded me of a pine cone.
A friend of mine, Dan Snow, who is very knowledgeable has identified it as a Lepidodendron. in the Lycopod family, an ancient tree in the Devonian period 419-358 Million years ago. The entire tree is in a rock bank and I hope to take more photos.
Horn coral, I thought I had discovered a dinosaur horn or sorts until I found out differently.
Sea Biscuits and coral fossils.
The next photos are of coral and shell fossils I found in a landscape bed when I lived in Florida. They dredge a lot and they use the material for landscaping.
Huge clam a friend, Bill Waters, sent me.
This a Tribolite and I discovered it is a cast made in Morocco, and you have to use a magnifying glass to see the tiny air bubbles, but still nice. Bill Waters sent this also.
This is from Wyoming and it comes as a kit, where you have to remove the sandstone to expose the fossil. It is a Diplomystus, a large herring. The age is between 132-33 million years ago.
The friend that sent the clam sent this also, and I haven't identified it yet, but it's suppose to be a dinosaur claw.