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Mosasaur Jaw And Tooth Fossil ID


PalaeontoloSteve

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Hi everyone! 
Fairly new to all this . I have seen a few pieces of Jaw and Teeth that I would like but after reading some interesting discussion on this forum, I do doubt the authenticity. I understand that elements of the fossils may be real and there will always be an element of repair work with these fossils but are the bellow real? I have added 3 examples (multiple photos). 
Hopefully you will be able to help and I appreciate and advice in advance !!

thanks 

 

Steve

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Having also read a lot on here about what the Moroccans get up to, particularly with Mosasaur fossils I tend to doubt most of what I see now (rightly or wrongly)

If you’re thinking of buying any of these then you’ve definitely done the right thing in asking on here, hopefully those in the know will point you in the right direction. 
I read about examples where small pieces of genuine jaw are joined up to make larger (more valuable) “jaws”. The bottom example brought that to mind

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Thanks Dhiggi, I look forward to getting some more feedback. It’s so hard to know and there seems to be so much wisdom on this forum. I look forward to getting involved :)

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I'm no expert, so take this with a grain of salt haha. 1, 2, 3, and 8 look questionable. I say this because, to me, the matrix looks glued on.

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On 19/09/2020 at 2:32 AM, BellamyBlake said:

I'm no expert, so take this with a grain of salt haha. 1, 2, 3, and 8 look questionable. I say this because, to me, the matrix looks glued on.

Thanks BellamyBlake! Looking at the middle piece in more of a positive light at the moment. Thanks for your commets, very much appreciated.

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Most of these look like composites. Only the last one looks like it might be authentic.

Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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Agreed with the majority of other commenters here, most if not all of those look like fakes. Now, the teeth by themselves are certainly real, but the jaw itself probably is not. The last one is the least suspect of the bunch. My best guess on the teeth is Prognathodon but that could totally be 100% wrong, I’m not even close to an expert or even particularly knowledgeable on Mosasaur teeth identification.

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9 hours ago, OpabiniaBoogaloo said:

Now, the teeth by themselves are certainly real, but the jaw itself probably is not.

No, those jaw bones are all real. It's just that the teeth don't belong. All real parts. Just composited.

Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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8 hours ago, LordTrilobite said:

No, those jaw bones are all real. It's just that the teeth don't belong. All real parts. Just composited.

I'm going to agree with Lord Trilobite.  There is something about the way the teeth are attached that looks disingenuous.   

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 21/09/2020 at 11:38 AM, LordTrilobite said:

No, those jaw bones are all real. It's just that the teeth don't belong. All real parts. Just composited.

I totally agree with the above: all of the individual parts are real, but the pieces are composites.

 

When considering item 1, you can see that the tooth roots seem almost stuck on to the jaw - that is, they don't descent into the jaw (you can clearly observe the gaps). It furthermore looks like the teeth have also been glued on to the roots, as the transition is partly covered in places, and not entirely smooth in others...

 

Similarly, you can see on the side that tbe tooth has been glued to the root. Now, of course, this could be a genuine repair, but this is less likely, since the jaw useful has also been tampered with. That it's to say, if you look at the jaw in cross-section it seems to be composed of layers, rather than forming a solid whole.

 

As for the third item, the repair of the two teeth having been stuck together is obvious. However, when you look at the back of it, there again seems to be something strange going on at the base of the tooth crowns...

'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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