Search the Community

Just found this today. It will hook up with the trackway I’m putting together once i get the rock hauled out. My first Eubrontes!

This is another update from one of my older posts where we questioned whether or not my dinosaur track slate is authentic or fake. A reliable friend helped me out with this mission. A lot of controversy was behind this fossil. This thick paint/polish applied to these rocks makes it very difficult to determine what is actually is. I decided to completely start from scratch and remove all paint. When I purchased these tracks, I knew little to nothing about these matters...Now I want to share this post to help anyone else who is interested in buying a dinosaur track online to avoid deception. You have to be very careful. ONLY BUY FROM A RELIABLE SOURCE. Please ask for as many pictures as possible from different angles from the seller and ask as many questions as possible. Locality, who, when, background, etc. There should be no reason why the seller wouldn’t be more than happy to help. When I see that thick polish/paint applied to the tracks, I avoid those listings like the plague, because it usually means something’s off, at least from my experience (others agree). Also note that listings with muliple tracks on one rock is subject to even greater suspicion. More the reason to ask questions and request better pictures. With these being sold I see two strategies played out: 1.) The seller takes a rock with one or two real tracks, and then paints on other fakes to deceive you into thinking, “oh...well this track on the left is clearly a footprint, So the other ones painted must be too...I just don’t see it as much.” And 2.) The seller takes rocks that are similar shale, etc. and paints any groove that looks like a toe, paints another one, and there you have it...a “footprint”. Before you know it, you have 20 small, medium, and large completely fabricated tracks on one rock...all fake. But back to my fossil, below are pictures of the process from beginning to end. I still have a little more work to do, but the fossil already looks much better. I dedicated 2 hours to the cleaning. A lot of scrubing. I was happy to find that the Eubrontes track was authentic. Unfortunately the other tracks, not so much. There may be something else there.. but not sure...doubtful. If there are any, they’re definitely not as evident as the Eubrontes. What I used to remove the paint: 1.) Goo Gone (does a great job for cleaning bones and other fossils in general without leaving any marks or damage, great suggestion by @DPS Ammonite). I suggest the spray. Reason being because it’s easier to apply with one hand and scrub with the other. 2.) One roll of paper towels, or rags ( but be prepared to use a ton of rags). I personally did what I can with the paper towels and then used the rags towards the end to give it a better scrub. If anyone has any other questions please privately DM me. I encourage It. I can advise further in terms of where to avoid.

This is a follow-up from another post of mine regarding some dinosaur tracks I purchased a while back. We decided that that the Eubrontes track is 100% real, but some of the other footprints may be questionable or exaggerated. The stain that was used sort of makes it hard to tell. I’m not the biggest fan of this dark polish, so I was thinking I might want to remove it and apply a much lighter, more subtle polish to correctly identify which are really dino tracks vs. not. The seller told me that it’s a shoe polish that can be removed. My issue is, I’m not sure how to go about it doing it. How do I do this without damaging the specimen ? Will water and a rag potentially damage it? or is there another better way of going about it? Of course in the end event that it’s not removable it’s not the end of the world because it still a very nice piece, but like I said, I would prefer a more professional look, as I’m trying to get a little more serious about my collection. Appreciate the help and thanks

Hello fellow fossil hunters,. I am looking for one or two volunteers to navigate unexplored river ways in New Jersey and Connecticut for Triassic/Jurassic lacustrine cycles for dinosaur footprints and other trace fossils. The sites I have in mind are hot leads and require kayaks or a canoe to explore and are inaccessible by land. What we find we can split up. You provide the canoe or kayak and I will provide the leads. One car for drop off and one car to pick us up. Who is up for an adventure this fall? I will be planning more trips to the CT Valley this fall and seeing if anyone would like me to tag along at some cool dinosaur track sites. I am looking in particular for Eubrontes tracks or reptilian footprints from late Triassic/early Juraasic periods. No rock is too big to haul or break loose with the right techniques. I help you you help me we both get to take some fine specimens home. Who wants to go?