IN PICTURES: Fossil exhibition you can really dig

The Express & Star was given an exclusive look in the Lichfield Street gallery's storage rooms at some of the fossils from The Riches Beneath Us collection that were not on display at the exhibition at Bantock House.

The collection boasts some 4,000 pieces, but only 70 can be on display at Bantock House.

Pieces in the collection that could not be displayed at Bantock House include the fossil of an ammonite from the middle Jurassic period, the fossil of a tree trunk from the Carboniferous period, the fossil of a lycopod tree bark, the fossil of a seed fern and a shark egg case.

The whole collection was given to the art gallery in 1909 by Dr John Fraser, a Scottish GP who moved to Wolverhampton.

Despite having the collection for so long, the gallery has not put it on display for more than 20 years due to lack of space and the need to rotate items on show.

The majority of the collection is from the Carboniferous period which makes the fossils between 299 and 359 million years old.

The fossils are surrounded by iron clad and leave an imprint.

Paul Quigley, curator of history and local studies for Wolverhampton Museums, said: "This is a very special collection because it's so unusual.

"We're not sure of the exact location because obviously the landscape has changed so much but they are all from around the Black Country.

"They say continental drift grows as fast as a finger nail so if you times that by 300 million years then you can see how the Black Country used to be part of a tropical climate where these fossils would have lived."

With so many of these fossils unable for the public to view, Mr Quigley admitted that he is looking at ways to get more on display.

He said: "This particular collection has seen a lot of interest so we are looking at where else we could put some of these fossils on display. We will also consider doing another exhibition for the fossils that aren't on display at the moment, such is the interest."