Fossils on etsy

bogwalrus

Hey there. I came across a number of people selling 100% certified fossils on etsy. I notice a load of spinosaur teeth are being sold. Surprised how many and for pretty cheap also. Are these most likely to be fake?

Adam Khor

bogwalrus wrote: »

Hey there. I came across a number of people selling 100% certified fossils on etsy. I notice a load of spinosaur teeth are being sold. Surprised how many and for pretty cheap also. Are these most likely to be fake?

As I understand it, cheap spinosaur teeth from Morocco are relatively unlikely to be fake; this may seem counter intuitive when you think of how rare spinosaur skeletons are and how every time a new one is found it's a huge deal. Thing is, these animals lost and replaced their teeth constantly, like sharks, which means their teeth are actually quite common as fossils in certain regions. This allows for them to be collected in large number and sold relatively cheap.
Because of this, it is unlikely that anyone will bother to fabricate fake ones; mostly, you'd have to be careful if offered a very large or very well preserved specimen; if it's perfectly complete, smooth and nice looking, it's more likely to be fake or heavily restored. Normally a real tooth will have a worn or even cracked appearance; it's millions of years old, after all.

Also, be careful to know what you're buying; fossil dealers know dinosaurs are the biggest draw, so they often try to sell teeth from other animals (such as llarge fish or crocodiles) as if they were dinosaur. Beware for example of these:



These are pretty spectacular and often sold as Moroccan dinosaur teeth, but in reality they belong to a prehistoric fish called Enchodus. You can recognize them because they're smooth and have a very distinctive curve.

A true spinosaur tooth has a less spectacular, conical shape, and normally vertical ridges running along the crown.

You may also encounter the teeth of the contemporary Carcharodontosaurus for sale; these teeth are normally small, broad and flat with serrated egdes, like these:



They are often marketed as "African T. rex". Generally speaking these are rarer than spinosaur teeth and so normally more expensive; maybe be more skeptical of very cheap ones in this case.

As for claws, cheap ones are almost always replicae or fakes; they are much more rare to find as fossils since naturally the dinosaur only had one set of them for its entire life :B

bogwalrus

I could not have asked for a better response. Thanks!

Will keep all you say in mind as I plan to pick up a few pieces soon.

Long time lurker on this forum and always enjoy reading your posts.

bogwalrus

I got the pieces I ordered today. The crowd I purchased them off seem legit. Wouldn't mind a second opinion. My plan is to mount in a frame with some sketches and description of pieces. Something nice for the wall.

Adam Khor

Very cool, they seem legit to me!

What are the inclusions in the amber supposed to be? I can´t quite make them out

bogwalrus

Adam Khor wrote: »

Very cool, they seem legit to me!

What are the inclusions in the amber supposed to be? I can´t quite make them out

I am not sure to be honest. Looks to be some sort of flying insect.