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Hello! I asked this question in the Facebook group so I apologize if any of you are seeing it for a second time, but it was buried in a comment chain so I’m hoping to get a few more expert eyes on it. I received this beautifully prepared Keichousaurus today and it’s truly awesome to see it in person, but now that I’m able to inspect it more closely I’m thinking it may be a composite. There are a few things making me lean that direction: 1) There is an obvious mismatch in the patterns on the matrix, both front and back, when comparing the chunk that the body is on to the chunk that the skull is on. For example, the partial fish fossil on the righthand side just abruptly stops at the seam (last photo, blue arrow) … but it’s maybe possible that this is due to variable flaking/weathering and reattachment 2) The head is dorsal while the body is ventral … but I know it’s possible for this to happen naturally if the neck is twisted 3) The white “veins” that appear to run across both plates (skull and body) are, I think, true calcite veins in one plate and scratches intentionally placed to match on the other. For example, the red arrow in the last photo points to a junction where a true calcite vein from the body plate should cross the skull, but no vein is visible in the skull. A “vein” reappears above the skull but I believe this is just a surface scratch. On the other hand, the skull is perfectly sized and aligned to the “horns” (retroarticular processes) present on the body plate. This seems incredibly difficult to achieve in a fossil of this size. This specimen was prepared in the US and I have no reason to believe the skull is fake, but the uniform spacing and shape of the teeth also looks off to me. That may just be due to incomplete preparation of the area, I can’t tell even under 10x magnification. In any case it’s beautiful to look at, I was just a little disappointed to see that it may be a composite. What are your thoughts?

I bought this today. Your opinion is apreciated. Thanks

Does this look real to you?

Hello, I just bought a nice Keich at Tucson for a good deal, but I am curious, how much is composited or restored? If it is completely fake I will be taking it back as I have the contact information of the dealer. I know surely part of it is painted, which I don't mind for display purposes and I was happy with the price, but I am hoping at least the majority is real. I put an alcohol wipe over part of it and some paint came off on the left arm beside the white stripe, but throughout the center there was no paint. They told me there were a few repairs, but I am hoping that is all that it is... Teeth and left arm are the areas I am suspect of. On the back, there are two raised slabs that they said were to keep the cracks together.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for Keichosaurus fossils, and I know there's a lot of fakes, that's why I suspect. Thank you in advance!

I've seen the very helpful and detailed posts on finding fake keichosaurs, but I'd like second opinions on this so I can decide on buying it.

Hi my wife recently found this fossil at goodwill it’s says what it is on the back just need help to determine if it’s real or not. It’s about 26 centimeters long.