I first came across coprolite, a.k.a fossilized poop, at a bone reading workshop in Santa Monica at the charming Madame Parmita’s Parlour of Wonders.Various bones and curios were being passed around to illustrate the types of things you could add to your bone set and several pieces of sloth coprolite were among them. I knew I was going to buy a piece for my set because let’s face it – who among us doesn’t have some old sh*t that we are carrying around that is still affecting us in some way? It was perfect!  My only goal was to get the cute little one.  The others were a little too obvious if you catch my drift.  Sadly another reader who shall not be named (Dr. E) beat me to it and I was forced to buy a larger piece. I chose one that looked like it had fissures that would allow me to break off a smaller piece. I also bought a beautiful wolf vertebrae that my dog ate a few days later, but that’s a future blog post.

coprolite-2 coprolite-3 coprolite-4

I was able to break off a smaller piece about an inch in size that I used to good effect for quite a while. Then in my endless scavenger hunt for new pieces on eBay I came across tumbled dinosaur coprolite from Utah. The samples in the picture were quite attractive! Since they were only $3.00 or so I ordered one. I was not disappointed. The piece I got was smooth, mostly tans and grays with a slight glossy sheen, and I think I can see bits of food in it.

coprolite-1

It is one of my favorite pieces and I delight in telling my clients that it is literally “old sh*t!” You can find it easily on ebay. But if you like a more natural look you can. also find pieces that look more like what they purport to be. Here is a picture of sloth coprolite from South America from the Gem Faire. These were all large so they didn’t interest me.

coprolite-7

Here are some smaller ones that I bought from the previous Gem Faire. I don’t know why I bought them since I really like the one I have and it is unlikely to break. It has survived since the Jurassic. Probably because they were 2 for a dollar. I can’t resist a sale.  No doubt some of my bone reading friends will benefit when I purge my overflow box of excess and redundancy. In any event I find my coprolite piece quite useful in my readings.

coprolite-6

Happy Bone Reading!

[jetpack_subscription_form]