THE CHRISTMAS TREE

The famous French palaeontologist Alcide d’Orbigny would never have dreamed what the small, ugly ammonite he first described scientifically in 1842 actually looked like! There was only a gray, slightly weathered stone core, an ammonite without its shell, on the table in his study room. Three rows of small knots were already slightly visible. But such downward-curved spines, made of shining mother-of-pearl, would certainly have exceeded the professor’s wildest fantasies.

Almost 180 years later, however, a collector made this unique sensational find, which gives us an idea of what discoveries and advances in science may still lie ahead!

However, the place where this ammonite was found has so far been a well-kept secret of the discoverer. And for good reason!