Are these fossils fake, suspicious or am I over reacting?

Hello all,

One of your members posted your website on to Reddit and suggested that UK enthusiasts should come and have a look.

I've always enjoyed fossils and decided to try and get a few to start a small collection. Unfortunately, despite seeing images in advance and dealing with a very friendly dealer, I believe I have been conned.

https://imgur.com/a/QgMJF is a link to the album of the 3 teeth I purchased from the dealer. I have zoomed in on the areas that have given me reason to doubt the items. The smallest tooth is fairly light (as an amateur I don't know how heavy they should be necessarily) but upon closer inspection there is a white patch which suspiciously looks like plaster.

I dug in to it a wee bit (as you can see in the image) but I can't decide if it's fake because it's powdering away like rock would.

The other two teeth are quite light as well and indeed when digging in to those in the whiter areas it powders away, I can rub this dust between my fingers and make it disappear.

I'm not worried if they are fake, I paid through paypal and will be entitled to a full refund but I'd hate to ruin someone's reputation just because I don't understand the fossil world.

Please help!

Looks like you have two Spinosaurus teeth and a Carcharodontosaurus tooth from a phosphatic deposit from Morocco. They're real but looks to have had some reconstruction to maintain shape though the top one doesn't look bad. - The white stuff is part of the fossil... stop picking at it!!

You are spot on Spleain. That's exactly what they were sold as. (I don't know how you knew that from a few photos)

I'll stop playing with them now and put it on display feeling a lot better about them.

Just out of interest, what price tag would you expect for those? So I know if I'm jumping in at the right price or if I'm an idiot.

Thanks again!

There is no decent point of reference on there to determine size but assuming the blue thing is a coffee mug I would say £20 - 30 for the three? Its hard to say without handling them mind.

Hi, I found many similar to this in Morocco over January, and bought a few myself- firstly they aren't from phosphatic deposits- the Kem Kem is a typical deltaic system and is a pure sandstone the whole way through, the phosphatic deposits in the north of Morocco are from the Tehthys Ocean that used to run between Africa and Europe before they collided during the later Cretaceous (creating the alps).

As far as the fossils go, they look perfectly real to me. They actually look quite sizable for the two genera, most of what you'll see for sale are small, juvenile teeth as they preserve more readily, but these are excellent. I don't have a larger Carcharodonotsaurus tooth myself, only smaller ones, but a friend i was out there with has a couple and it's virtually identical- bar the wearing at the front of it. I have a couple of large Spinosaurus teeth, and although they vary slightly in shape from tooth to tooth, these two look in good condition, the ribbing on the middle one in the second picture is nice as well- it preserved well on one of mine. The white stuff is fine, it's there on mine too.

Pics of mine for reference:
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The powdery nature may be part of the outer root wearing away, but it might also be a few sand grains coming off- mine still have a few on, if you use a sharp, light blade and are careful you can get rid of them without too much hassle.

Glad to see someone noticed one of my posts on reddit


Edit:

As far as value is concerned, you could be looking at as much as £100 for the 3 as they are quite sizable compared to what you'd normally see, Carcharodontosaurus teeth are generally rarer than those of Spinosaurus, and therefore worth more, but with the front of the tooth missing it'd be worth a little less- maybe £40 or so for that one, and the two Spinosaurus teeth would be worth £30 each at least.

What price would you put on Kijamon's teeth macro?

You remember my Carcharodontosaurus teeth... well a certain Craig who will remain nameless dropped the perfect 3" one and its now in many little pieces! far too many to repair.

Price can depend on the size, I have seen ones around 2 inches long for £30 each with reconstruction.

macrocephale wrote:Edit:

As far as value is concerned, you could be looking at as much as £100 for the 3 as they are quite sizable compared to what you'd normally see, Carcharodontosaurus teeth are generally rarer than those of Spinosaurus, and therefore worth more, but with the front of the tooth missing it'd be worth a little less- maybe £40 or so for that one, and the two Spinosaurus teeth would be worth £30 each at least.

I edited this is right after I posted..

Ouch that was a beauty!

Thanks guys, what a relief. I was thinking I had been had. The blue thing was indeed a mug.

As a rough estimate it'll be

Carcharodontosaurus - about 1.5"

Spinosaurus about 2.5" and 2.75" ish I suppose.

I paid......*drumroll*.... £90 for the three.

So it seems that's a reasonable price, though picking away at them has probably dropped the value a bit!

Glad to see this is an active forum, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this place now

Kjamon.... how much did you pay for them? - and feel free to name the dealer.



Macro, let me know when you are gonna visit my shop... I have a pen and price tags ready!

Kijamon wrote:Thanks guys, what a relief. I was thinking I had been had. The blue thing was indeed a mug.

As a rough estimate it'll be

Carcharodontosaurus - about 1.5"

Spinosaurus about 2.5" and 2.75" ish I suppose.

I paid......*drumroll*.... £90 for the three.

So it seems that's a reasonable price, though picking away at them has probably dropped the value a bit!

Glad to see this is an active forum, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this place now

Thats a fair price, they are bigger than they looked in photo

£90 for those three is a decent deal, I'd say the price could probably range from £80-£110 for the three.

It can be active, we tend to have a week on and a week off!

Picking at them might not necessarily be bad, if you look at mine, the enamel on the 4" one is quite dull as it still has some sand etc stuck on it, but the 3" one is nice and clean, having been picked by the dealer out there (I found the smallest one and the partial huge one in the picture with 4, and bought the middle two for around £50 for the pair from hotel owners out in Morocco, everyone out there has a few nice fossils for when tourists/ hunters come by )

Spleain wrote:Kjamon.... how much did you pay for them? - and feel free to name the dealer.



Macro, let me know when you are gonna visit my shop... I have a pen and price tags ready!

Hehe just don't expect me to buy much! Got no money atm- I'm only going to be able to make it to the next meeting because Craig's buying a couple of ammonites!