- Sending some digital photos beforehand is a good idea together with some data on the stratigraphy / facies. But not gigabytes, just two or three files not larger than one MB each. Just recently I waited half an hour for getting the mails downloaded, full with fotos of uggly material.
- Please do not send any material without contacting me beforehand. I will provide a valid address. Do not send any samples to Mexico.
- Please do not send "bulk" samples, e.g. uncleaned, unprepared samples, or just rock samples (where I have to search for the corals).
- When sending material to abroad please do not declare them as "corals" or "fossil corals"; please declare them always as "rock samples".
- If you send your sample, please provide the following information,
- your postal ("return") address,
- collection name (private collections are OK),
- a unique specimen number for reference for each specimen or a serial number, where I may append current numbers,
- locality of the samples as exact as possible. No problem if you do not dare to tell me the exact spot. You are right: if your samples are nice, I would go there and take everything.
- lithostratigraphy and / or age of the rocks where the material was taken from,
- a clear statement whether I am allowed (1) to make a small polished section (2) to cut the specimen, and (3) to make thin section(s). Thin sections are sometimes necessary for correct determination and will be returned with the samples to you.
- Give me at least two months. Determination may be easy, but sometimes I cannot send your sample immediately back to you (I prefer to send it from Europe or the U.S.).
- With sending your sample to me you give me the permission to publish the obtained data, pictures of the specimen, or its thin sections (that's my salary). This terms are of course negotiable (in the case of consulting companies). When anything will be published, you will receive a reprint or PDF.
- Larger faunas I normally publish together with the owner or collector of the samples. This usually does not take much time if the material is once prepared. For this, please look up additional information.
Download RTF file with sample label.
Thanks to José Juan Jiménez for taking this picture when I was observing some really uggly samples. What we can learn from this ? Do send only well preserved samples.
[10 August 2011]