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Polishing rocks hides their real story
I cleaned out my collection last year and realized every piece was shiny. It struck me that we're smoothing over millions of years of history. In my view, a rough surface shows more geology than a perfect gloss. If we keep this up, new collectors will miss the point. I learned this after ruining a good limestone sample.
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the_oliver1mo ago
Yeah the part about ruining limestone really hit home. I did the same thing with a fossil once, scrubbed it so hard all the fine details just vanished. Sometimes the rough stuff is the whole point.
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henry1011mo ago
What made you think fossils need a deep clean?
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