Fossil
Arthropods that ruled the sea floor for nearly 300 million years and left one of the best fossil records on earth. Moroccan Devonian species carry extravagant spines; Russian material from the Baltic is famously three-dimensional and glossy.
Preparation quality is everything. Under magnification a genuine specimen shows continuous shell texture across segments; heavily restored pieces show a color or texture break where composite filler was sculpted. Ask which parts are original.
Keep out of humidity swings, which can cause pyrite decay in some Russian material. Dust with a soft brush.
Trilobites were collected long before palaeontology existed — a drilled Elrathia specimen was found in a Utah Pahvant Ute burial context.
Cultural history, recorded as tradition rather than as medical or scientific claim.
See it in person
Both rooms are open six days a week, and there is always someone happy to pull pieces out of the case so you can compare them under the light.