chocolate fossils, etc.

[Bill Adlam <wa105@mead.anglia.ac.uk>]

Warning: may cause excessive salivation.

I have found out a bit more on those chocolate fossils.  They are made and 
distributed by Thornton's which I think operates only in the UK.  The company 
has a mail-order service, but it is expensive - you are much better off 
making arrangements with someone like me.

The chocolate fossils are part of a range for children (of both sexes and all 
ages, including adult).  As well as charming confectionery such as 'catkins' 
and 'frogspawn', there are many products of interest to the palaeobiologist 
and/or the geologist. 

I charmed the staff into giving me a copy of the product list, to which I 
have added comments.  I have converted prices to US dollars at the rate of 
1.6.  

[CODE]
Name                                             mass(g)     price(UKP)   $US
     any comments

DINOSAURS:
Milk Chocolate T. Rex                             305         5.29       8.46
     fat and tail-dragging
Brachiosaurus Egg                                 125         2.99       4.78
     milk & white chocolate, nice texture
Raptor Eggs                                        50         0.99       1.58
     8, milk chocolate in sugar shell
Milk Chocolate Dinosaur Track Bar                  45         0.49       0.78
     Diplodocus, Tyrannosaurus or 'Raptor', look like a professional non-
     artist's napkin sketch (not that I've ever seen one of those)

MINERALS:
Strawberry Ruby Jelly                              25         0.29       0.46
Lemon Quartz Jelly                                 25         0.29       0.46
Orange Topaz                                       25         0.29       0.46
Blackcurrant Sapphire Jelly                        25         0.29       0.46
Apple Emerald Jelly                                25         0.29       0.46
     all of these are embedded in a lump of rock (unless it's chocolate), and
     some look truly inorganic.  I don't often find real gems, so I can't
     vouch for their accuracy.
Fantastic Rock Pack                               135         1.45       2.32
     one each of the 5 above, plus 10g of mysterious cold dark matter
Heliodor Little Gems                               65         0.49       0.78
     didn't see any
Garnet Little Gems - Fruit                         65         0.49       0.78
     fizzy strawberry er, lumps
Diamond Little Gems - Mint                         65         0.49       0.78
     crunchy sugar
Amber Little Gems - Orange                         65         0.49       0.78
     crunchy sugar again, crystalline, opaque, insect-free and generally  
     unlike amber
Gold Nuggets                                       55         1.25       2.00
     honeycomb, in cotton bags so not seen
Pearls Of Wisdom                                   55         1.25       2.00
     sugar, again in cotton bags
Pearls - Click Tins                                12         0.75       1.20
     strawberry
Dinosaur Teeth - Licorice - Click Tins             12         0.75       1.20
Precious Opals - Orange And lemon - Click Tins     12         0.75       1.20
Amazing Ammonites - Click Tins                     12         0.75       1.20
     mint
     click tins are little round metal tins, and I haven't yet sampled any of
     these four products

FOSSILS
 
Sea Urchin                                         25         0.29       0.46
Shark's Tooth                                      25         0.29       0.46
Ammonite Shell                                     25         0.29       0.46
Strawberry-Headed Trilobite                        25         0.29       0.46
     doesn't taste of strawberry 
Venus Shell                                        25         0.29       0.46
Birch Leaf                                         25         0.29       0.46
Trilobite Shell                                    25         0.29       0.46
Neopterygian Fish                                  25         0.29       0.46
Giant Cerith                                       25         0.29       0.46
     pointy gastropod
     these milk chocolate fossils are all detailed and of a high quality,
     they are highlighted in white chocolate, which is not generally  
     realistic and doesn't exactly follow the edges of the fossils
Milk Chocolate Multi Fossil Plaque                160         3.99       6.38
     looks nice, but I'm not going to supply a replica of a birch leaf
     alongside a trilobite
Milk Chocolate Ammonite Fossil Plaque             120         3.29       5.26
     my favourite: a bed of little ammonites - some parts and some
     counterparts - and a message can be written (for free) in icing!
[/CODE]

These products are all labelled as 'suitable for plant eaters', but most 
contain dairy products.  The chocolate is the Anglo-Saxon kind, not 
continental, but a good example of it.

Someone's made Thorntons a web site, but it is pitiful, and I strongly advise 
you not to bother looking at discovery.thorntons.co.uk.  The company may be 
contacted at Thornton Park, Somercotes (I think- can't read my own writing 
now), Derby, DE55 4XJ, UK, +44 01773 540550, if you wish.  But most large 
British towns have a branch, so it's not too much to ask a friend in this 
country.

Any further enquiries off-list, please, unless of general interest.  But you 
all know that anyway.  I am willing to send anyone any of them except the 
anachronistic assemblage.  The banks over here aren't very good at dealing in 
foreign currency (or local currency), but there are all sorts deals we could 
make...

                                                        All the best,

                                                                        Bill