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I live in NYC, and it was a real treat to see a street fair pop up on Broadway after all this covid stuff. Looked like the city was finally back to normal, including rock shop tents selling crystals and fossils off the sidewalk. I wish I'd taken a photo of the fossils, but this seller had four Claudiosaurus fossils that were obviously painted onto the matrix with a bit of dremel work to give them dimension. Price tag: a lot. Gotta be careful out there, friends. I've learned to be so wary from you guys, especially @Troodon.

Hi all, I have in my collection, two small complete Claudiosaurus in matrix skeletons, and one round concretion which I believe to contain a larger Claudiosaurus (yes, I know some may be skeptical). I am trying the freeze and thaw method to expose him (or her), and had a set back, as a section broke off at the edge, and another on the right edge. It is a large concretion.. about a foot diameter by 4 inches... just so you know the scale. The matrix looks to be more fragile then what I have seen in other video's.. ie, a heavy hammer strke would likely fragment it into many piece. Underneath the corner section which broke off, you can clearly see what I believe to be vertebrae, though the cleave from the freeze thaw didn't really cleave it in half.. it seemed to cleave in sections, not following the fossil. The right crack is removable, and there isn't any fossil visible under that section.. but it created a nice 'T' that could be chiseled down. The section I'm holding in my hand has split with the fossil on both sides, which is what I was hoping it was going to do the entire way.. The good news is, that the broken off piece has exposed more 'territory' for water to permeate along the fossil natural cleavage, I believe. Those with expertise here. Should I continue to soak several days, and then freeze again.. or, at this point.. hammer and chisel? I am afraid to try anything at this point.. but think the freeze and thaw least risky. I think this is quite a valuable fossil potentially. I have attached a photo of the concretion, and his 'little brother' one of my Claudio skeletons.

Last night I was contacted by a person on Facebook (red flag #1) who claims to have 7 Claudiosaurus fossils from Madagascar that he wants to sell me. While I would love to have these, I am of course very skeptical of their authenticity. Several of them consist of both the positive and negative plate which is a plus. When I asked how much he wanted for them his reply was "make me an offer" (red flag #2). So, can anyone tell from these photos he sent if these are real or fake? Any suggestions how I should proceed with him? I think he is in Mauritius (red flag #3) He says they're around 30cm / 1ft. in size. -Brian