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Mixosaurus ichthyosaur skull?


FF7_Yuffie

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Hello,

 

Saw this for sale, wondering if it is legit? Found in Guixhou, part of an old collection from the 60s. Matrix is 12 inch x 6.6 inch x 2.2 inch. Desriptions says no restorations but it has been glued.

 

Thanks for the help

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Terrible prep. Most of the bone looks severely ground down. What a waste of a wonderful fossil.

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Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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Screenshot_20200627-224042_eBay.thumb.jpg.b0f5688eaaec4607e3a60e35d63b2576.jpg

11 minutes ago, LordTrilobite said:

Terrible prep. Most of the bone looks severely ground down. What a waste of a wonderful fossil.

 

Cheers. So the roughness is down to awful prep. 

 

Seller has a second one. They're both been sold together. Guessing this one is a bodge job too? 

 

Screenshot_20200627-224121_eBay.jpg

Screenshot_20200627-224200_eBay.jpg

Screenshot_20200627-224110_eBay.jpg

Screenshot_20200627-224042_eBay.jpg

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The dramatic lighting is making it extra hard to tell. But yeah it does look like that was ruined as well.

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Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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28 minutes ago, LordTrilobite said:

The dramatic lighting is making it extra hard to tell. But yeah it does look like that was ruined as well.

 

Cheers. I'll hold my money for something else--preferably not bodged.

 

Thanks for the help

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You could describe it as buy an Angle Grinder w/ a 4 inch Concrete Diamond Grinding Disc Wheel or a chainsaw and cut the stone untill you see black color, then grind over the bones to remove the excess rock as much as you can, for fine prep buy a big hammer and a chisel:

 

39f5e5ee87315d54d13ec2876cd3bdeb.jpg.f8e43536dc148067d00d7087b78eec9d.jpg

 

Wash in acid for finish! The whole process should take a few hours down to one hour at best. 

 

How to sell it? Describe it as "Museum Grade Rare Fossil! No restoration!" or as "Condition very good! Natural! A good specimen for RESEARCH and collection... Old collection from the 80s" and start the auction with 1$ (you''ll have an advantage over the resellers who price them 2000x higher, although it's the same type of prep-work, with smoothed matrix, so that it looks more "professional"). 

 

Sorry for the sarcasm, but this is exactly what some people are doing with these and with other Chinese fossil material... Maybe it's from the 80s, but there's plenty of "not so old" material comming out of China and even if it's from the 80s, the specimens should be described accordingly. Often there's a lack of proper tools involved, or hard layers which are more time demanding to prep, but the idea is to do it fast! Btw., many people criticise Moroccan trilobites, when in fact they are doing a lot nicer prep job in Morocco and are spending a lot more time as these guys prepping these skulls or Keichos or Damesella or dino eggs... 

 

Nothing against Chinese, some do fantastic work aswell, I guess, just a sarcastic remark how you are throwing your money away on your favourite auction sites sometimes (in other words, how sometimes commercial prep works)  - because as noticed so many times, people don't wonder how it's done! Everyone is just wondering if it is legit...:headscratch: And then when it sells well, repeat and destroy another...

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