Contrary to a common perception, all rocks, minerals, and fossils are treated as being owned or possessed by some person or entity in the American legal system; there are no specimens that are wholly “unowned” as a legal concept. Even in cases where no specific person or organization has ownership of rocks, minerals, or fossils or the property on which rocks, minerals, or fossils are located, federal, state, or local governments have what constitutes default ownership or possession of those specimens or that property.⁶ In the majority of instances, the ownership of particular specimens located on the surface follows the ownership of the land upon which those specimens are located so that the person who owns the land also owns those surface specimens.⁷ In certain situations, however, this default rule is not applicable due to legal relationships in which the right of possession for those surface specimens is transferred to another person or organization. For example, the owner of land may lease or place a conservation easement on that land transferring the right to possess and, therefore, control surface specimens to a non-profit organization. The non-profit organization would have the legal right to those surface specimens. Likewise, when specimens are not located on the surface of land or are comprised of specific, recognized minerals or stone, the owner or possessor of a legal interest, oftentimes referred to as a mineral or stone interest, owns those specimens. By way of example, the owner of land may transfer the mineral and stone interest associated with the land to a limestone quarrying company. The limestone quarrying company would have the legal right to subsurface rocks and, depending on the specific language and interpretation of the transfer documents, the limestone rocks located on the surface.