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Devonian Harpes from the Eifel

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Before preparation: Two Harpes-Cephala lying upside-down in the rock

Before preparation: Two Harpes-Cephala
lying upside-down in the rock

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An additional piece of rock was added in order to
prepare the fossils from the other side

An additional piece of rock was added in order
to prepare the fossils from the other side

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Both heads were prepared from the top

Both heads were prepared from the top

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The finished specimen after 18 hours of painstaking preparation work

The finished specimen after 18 hours
of painstaking preparation work

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Note the fine granulation of the cephalic rim

Note the fine granulation of the cephalic rim

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From the experienced collector Walter Graf I received this quite challenging commission work: two Harpes-cephalons, upside down, near the edge of a small stone. The task was to expose them from the topside, so some “support matrix” of the same layer was used to back up the actual matrix. 

Sufficiently stabilized, the two cephalons could be prepared. Just through careful, ste-by-step preparation and gentle sand blasting a  securing of the shell in all its detail is possible. Details like the turberculation of the cephalic rim would otherwise be lost.  Weathered pieces were visibly reconstructed.

Fossil: Harpes sp. 

Locality: Prümer Mulde, Eifel (Germany)

Formation: Devonian, Eifelian

Length of the cephalon : 3.4 cm

Collection: Walter Graf

Work required: 18 hours

This fossil and its preparation were published in the magazine Steinkern, issue 31 in 2017:

FREITAG, P. (2017): „Auf links gedreht“: Präparation von zwei Kopfschilden des Trilobiten Harpes aus dem Devon der Eifel, in: DER STEINKERN, Heft 31, S. 60-65. Link zum Heft: https://www.steinkern.de/inhaltsangaben/1231-heft31.html