Fossil club to auction pieces of the past

Proceeds from the sale of sharks' teeth and other finds will pay for scholarships.

By SHERYL KAY
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 6, 2002

UNIVERSITY NORTH -- They're old, sometimes dirty and often nearly impossible to recognize. But dozens of people will flock around tables to admire them, as relics of all sizes, shapes and ages go on display Saturday at the Tampa Bay Fossil Club's annual auction.

Proceeds from the event, which will take place at the University of South Florida, will go toward the club's Ben Waller Scholarship, named after the famed Florida Scuba diver and amateur paleontologist who discovered a sizable cache of fossils in the 1960s in Central Florida's Santa Fe River.

Money in the scholarship fund is then distributed to two USF students, generally geology majors.

"We'll be auctioning off anything people bring in: fossils, books, plants, shells, anything having to do with fossils and paleontology," group president Michael Searle said. "In the past we've had fossils from elephants, mastodon, mammoth, megalodon and more."

Fossils are either parts of, or a whole plant or animal, that have been preserved, usually by mineralization and most commonly in sedimentary rock. Scientists determine their ages through a variety of techniques including radioactive dating. They could be anywhere from 10,000 to millions of years old.

Searle, 38, a postal clerk from Lutz, has been an active fossil hunter for the past two decades. He said the club is "like a secret society," even though there are almost 500 members now. Newcomers are always welcome.

"The club started in 1987, and I never knew about them until seven years later," he said.

Frank Garcia, Ruskin's internationally recognized amateur paleontologist who discovered the Leisey Shell Pit, formed the group, which seeks to educate the public about Florida's prehistory. The club also promotes a good working relationship between scientists and amateurs, and gears its activities to enthusiasts of all ages.

Meeting once a month at USF, the group hosts speakers covering all aspects of paleontology, from hunting for sharks' teeth, to paleo-Indians, and micro paleontology.

Field trips are scheduled about six times a year, and Searle is especially proud of the club's newsletter.

"People want to keep in touch with what's going on with fossil hunting, what shows are coming up," Searle said. "It's a great way to stay in touch with paleontology in the state of Florida."

Searle first became attracted to the hobby when a friend showed him a box of fossilized shark teeth 20 years ago.

"Up until then, I never realized there were fossils right here in Florida," he said.

Now he and his wife, Seina, 36, go out at least once a month searching for the valuable relics.

"It's an adventure, like hunting, and they're not always that easy to find," he said.

The unspoken history also fascinates Searle.

"When you pick up a fossil it may have been sitting there for 10,000, or one million, or even 5 million years," he said. "It was a real living animal until it died, and no one has seen that piece or touched it until you find it."

The relative antiquity of the pieces also captivates Terry Sellari, a board member and past president of the club.

"Its hard to describe finding a shell that could be 60- or 70-million years old, and knowing it was alive at one time," said Sellari, 60, a retired phone installer and fossil dealer, who lives in west Carrollwood. "When you find it and see it sparkling in the sun it just jumps right out at you."

Sellari has made several outstanding finds himself, many from the Withlacoochee River, including a mammoth jaw, a milk saber tooth, and a fossilized Indian hair pin made from deer bone.

"It just gets my adrenaline going," he said.

-- You can contact Sheryl Kay, with tips about other northern Hillsborough clubs, at skreporter@hotmail.com.

If you go

Saturday's Tampa Bay Fossil Club auction begins at 7:30 p.m., in Room 103 in the Behavioral Sciences building at USF, and is open to the public. There is no admission charge, and refreshments will be served. For information about the club, or the auction, call Michael Searle at 909-9358 or go online to www.tampabayfossilclub.com.

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