Real Spinosaurus claw?

[heZZ]

I'm not sure

[dinosaur man]

1 hour ago, heZZ said:

I'm not sure

Looks real everything looks good, but probably some restoration. But I would stay away from them they can easily be faked.

[Runner64]

Photos are a little grainy so I can’t tell what the surface of the claw looks like which is important. Also, I can confidently say there is restoration to the middle portion of the claw (look at miscolorstion).

[Troodon]

Photos are to small and only of one side of the claw visible to make an informed call but looking at the tip area I have some real concerns

 

[LordTrilobite]

Yeah the photos are much too small.

[Haravex]

Photographs are far too small but I too have some major concerns. I'm on mobile so it's hard to firmly show these but see the attached image and notice where I have drawn lines a claw should be curved not have straight sections this normally occurs when 'claws' have been made with random pieces of bone.

[BadlandTraveller]

I would pass. 

[Flx]

I recently saw this claw in a webshop. If i remember correctly the seller also provided an x-ray picture showing the individual parts the claw is made of

(This does not confirm or reject the possibility of the claw being a composite but i found it kinda interesting).

[Praefectus]

I saw the claw for sale at my local rock shop. The seller let me take some pictures. I hope they help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Praefectus]

[Praefectus]

[LordTrilobite]

Eek! Pass on that one.

 

Looks like repaired at best. Composite or even partially carved at the worst.

[Praefectus]

Hello @LordTrilobite. What are you seeing that indicates the claw as repaired/carved? Is there something specific to be on the look-out for when assessing Spino claws? Below is the x-ray of the claw that Flx mentioned. 

 

[LordTrilobite]

Interesting. That actually looks quite good on that X-ray. The pieces seem to fit fairly well. Maybe I was wrong and it's just repaired.

 

The main thing is that the surface on the outside looks very dubious. There's a lot of junk and spare matrix on there to hide any seams. This is immediately suspicious as this is a very common practice to hide any tampering. So, excess matrix that seems to be smeared on = bad.

 

Then the curves don't all look great. It seems to be a bit lumpy, especially on the convex curve there is a pinch that looks odd.

 

And sometimes, random pieces of bone are used and carved into a desired shape and used to fill in composites or just completely fabricate a "claw". This can usually be spotted due to the angle of the bone fibres. On a real claw the fibres will curve along with the rest of the claw. On a carved piece, they will be straight and won't curve with the bend of the claw properly. Now, it's kinda hard to tell with all the excess matrix on there. But I think it looks like some parts have the fibres without any curves. In which case those would be carved parts.

 

So the X-ray looks kinda promising, but the bone exterior does not. Personally if I was in the market for a spino claw I would like to hold this in my hand and properly examine it before I bought it. Otherwise I would just not take the chance at all.

[Troodon]

With the new photos, thanks  @Praefectus I believe this to be real.   The tip areas and the ventral surfaces are the hardest to replicate and this one looks good.  A bit rough with some repair but otherwise okay, not the best of prep work.