When you do something a lot, you often take those things for granted. I’ve been in this business for over 22 years. When I go through security at the airport, I come to expect the scanners to question what’s in my bag. However, it’s a different story when you’re not used to it. Here’s a little story by a customer who had one such experience:
Several years ago I bought a fossil cave bear claw (1.8 million years old) at The Fossil Cartel. When I packed to return to New York I decided that it would be safer wrapped in bubble wrap in my backpack than in my suitcase. Accordingly, I wrapped it up, put it in the backpack and then promptly forgot about it. Going through security I took my backpack off, placed it on the conveyer belt and then walked through the metal detector gate. All of a sudden I noticed the man looking at the security X-ray screen waving frantically to his superior. When the superior arrived, the man at the screen started pointing at it with a look that was both concerned and puzzled. The superior stared and then he waved at other security guards in the area to come over and look. As the crowd of security personnel staring at the screen became larger and larger, the superior looked up at me and smiled. While I had seen the commotion, I had not realized until that point that it had anything to do with me. The smile told me everything. When I walked over, he asked what it was. I explained what it was and where I bought it. He seemed genuinely curious about the claw and thought that the whole situation was hilarious. The security guard at the screen was amply relieved.
Thank you J.B. from New York!
Do you have any good stories about going through airport security with rocks, fossils or meteorites? Please share! Send them to info@fossilcartel.com.
