A LARGE FOSSIL OYSTER SHELL

A LARGE FOSSIL OYSTER SHELL

Inoceramus grandis

Cretaceous

Niobrara Formation, Gove County, Smoky Hill Chalk, Kansas, USA

Expertly prepared from its original matrix and contained in its original “field Jacket” measuring 45 ½ x 41 x 3 inches (115.6 x 104.1 x 7.6 cm).

An excellent example of the largest oyster species ever to have lived, the Inoceramus, which could grow up to as much as four feet in width. The shell exhibits a layering of concentric circles consistent with an oyster shell and shows exceptional three-dimensionality as most fossil clams and oysters from the Kansas chalks are rather flat and compressed. Both dorsal and ventral "halves" of the oyster are present, along with attached colonies of small rudist and smaller oyster shells, Pseudoperna congesta.

PROVENANCE

Chait Auction Beverly Hills, September 21, 2008 (lot 339)

Private Florida collection from 2008 till the present.