MIDDLEBURG — As a child, Joe Shaffar’s mother immersed him in various worldly cultures, histories and differences. She gave him a subscription to National Geographic and often took him out of town to restaurants that featured an international menu.

“She wanted me to know there was a world out there beyond Middleburg,” Shaffar said.

During a 1989 trip to Sydney, Australia, he spotted a fossil that caught his attention. To most, it looked like a rock. To him, it triggered a fascination that’s led to one of the country's largest collections, if not the largest, of fossils.

In 26 years, Shaffar’s curiosity grew into a hobby and an obsession. He has more than 500 pieces, including two extremely rare pieces of Cleitholepis Granulata — a fish fossilized in sandstone found in Hornsby Heights in Sydney, Australia. They are so rare that Shaffar needed permission from the country’s government to remove them from the country.

According to the internet, the only other place with that fossil on display is the Australian Museum at Darlington, Australia.

“There’s very little information about it,” Shaffar said. “Some of that stuff is so rare, there's hardly anything written about it. But that fish is the crown jewel of my collection. I don't have any other fossil that comes close. I've got the second one (the bigger fish), the crown jewel of my collection, and only two of those have been found.”

Shaffar has fossils with leaves, bugs, jellyfish, footprints and shells. He has petrified dung, teeth, skulls and ruby squid tentacles. He has several New Guinea Cassowary bone daggers made from shin bones, original Aboriginal art and a small slab of banded iron mineral that’s 4.4 billion years old.

His first fossil cost less than $50. He’s now spent more than $100,000 on his collection, including $10,000 on the Cleitholepis Granulata fish.

“I collected it because I enjoyed it. I didn’t realize how rare it was,” he said.

Shaffer said he would put his collection in a trust fund so it would be displayed when he dies. He doesn’t want it to be sold or disbanded. He hopes others enjoy them as much as he does.

“I've always wanted to put it on display,” Shaffar said. “I’m not going to be selfish and keep this for myself. Other people need to be able to see it. I need to share this.”

And the inspiration started when his mother bought a “National Geographic” subscription in 1963.

“She subscribed when I was a baby, put in my name, and I grew up looking at the magazine,” Shaffar said. “I was learning how to read, she'd read articles to me. I'd look at pictures. She took me to museums and plays. She'd make a big deal about taking me to movies in Jacksonville, eating out at restaurants, and traveling to different historical sites in the state. She was the one. She put that into me. She put that desire and knowledge into me. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn't have done this.”

Because of that, there is a part of the world inside Middleburg.