A Dinosaur for the Mantlepiece?

[Richard Keatinge <richard@keatinge.demon.co.uk>]

In article <0e8113512211998UPIMSSMTPUSR05@email.msn.com>, Allan Edels
<edels@email.msn.com> writes
>I think, in lieu of being able to stop the collection of these fossils,
>we should try to put together a collection kit for the collectors.  This
>would include location, maps and photos of the fossil in situ, collection of
>microfauna, damaged fossils, and volcanic tufts (if available), and
>collection of the matrix as well.  This information could be transfered from
>owner to owner, and could be examined by museums and by scientists.  I can
>see problems with that idea, but I can see it as a selling point - the
>fossil is worth more because it is valuable to science, not just as a
>collector's piece.

I'd really appreciate it if someone could do that.  Following the recent
death of my grandfather, I'm the owner of a small English outcrop of
Jurassic limestone that has yielded fish and at least one insect.  It
is, of course, undergoing erosion, although rather slowly. What I need
to know is: what criteria should I set for people who want to collect
there?  

At present I simply say that anything that looks interesting should be
shown to a relevant professional for proper description if warranted.
(More selfishly, I add that for fossils that aren't going to be
professionally described, I'd like every second fossil collected;
there's a collection in a smallish box.)   

Any ideas?

-- 
Richard Keatinge 

homepage http://www.keatinge.demon.co.uk