Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of ancient plants and animals, usually turned to stone over millions of years. Familiar examples include ammonites, belemnites, trilobites, fossil fish, sea urchins, crinoids and fossil wood, as well as footprints and impressions left in rock.
Fossil collecting became a fashionable pursuit in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when gentlemen naturalists filled cabinets of curiosities with specimens and the new science of geology transformed understanding of the earth's history. The Dorset coast around Lyme Regis, where Mary Anning made celebrated discoveries in the early nineteenth century, remains famous for its fossils. Victorian collectors displayed specimens in glazed cabinets and specimen drawers with handwritten labels, which are now collectable in their own right. Fossils also enter the decorative arts through stones such as Purbeck and other shelly marbles and fossiliferous limestones, used for chimneypieces, table tops and church fittings. Polished ammonites and slabs make striking decorative objects in modern interiors. Buyers should look for specimens with clear detail, minimal restoration and, where possible, old labels or provenance, and they should be aware that composite or heavily reconstructed pieces and outright fakes are common.
