Fossil Fern

Rare Preservation

We are the only original source for this exceedingly rare material. Nearly every piece in museums and private collections across the globe was excavated by us from our site in central Pennsylvania. It is the one and only location where these incredible fossils are found. These white fossil ferns on black shale are completely natural! The unique preservation results from a rare mineral replacement of the plant tissue. They are found in only one small location of only a few hundred square yards in an old anthracite coal mine. We closed and buried the site in the late 1990s. The fossils shown here are from the last shipment of specimens sent to the lab from the site 30 years ago!

How They Formed
About 300 million years ago the equator cut through the eastern part of North America resulting in tropical environments where early land plants and animals thrived. In the area that is now central Pennsylvania, ferns comprised the bulk of the primitive forest, eventually piling up in thick layers that were then compacted into immense deposits of coal. As the leaves were buried deep the plant tissue dissolved away and was replaced by pyrite, and then by pyrophyllite. After that, the area was uplifted and erosion carved away the overlaying sediments. In the 1950s and 60s strip mining exposed the fossil layer by removing the coal seam directly above it. We located the site in the early 1970s and excavated fossils there for over 20 years.

Learn More
To get a feel for our digging at this site, see the story “St Clair” in Jon’s Log section of this website.