Indonesian Meg Teeth

[Junoland]

Dear All,

 

I just wanted to make you all aware, (to my detriment) , some recent experiences I've has with purchasing Megalodon Teeth from Indonesia.

This is not a name and shame post, simply my experiences with a 'grey area'. I've purchased many teeth recently and most are 100% A ok.

 

However, the dealers are fully aware of the value realized from 5.5 inch plus teeth and this has resulted in a swathe of monster teeth being offered to the market. Now, I'm an idiot and need no reminding, but I fell for this trick about a month ago. 

The seller seemed genuine enough and the transaction was carried out Via PayPal, so I had insurance. 

 

After  purchasing 3 or 4 decent teeth she started to offer me massive 6.5 and sometimes 7 inch teeth that had a ''tiny bit of restoration' to the root.

I looked long and hard at the photos and concluded that the blades look ok but the roots likely completely restored. I was happy with this and so took a punt.

 

The 4 teeth arrived and I decided to let Mr. Acetone do his worse. I was interested to see if indeed it was just the roots that had been restored. 

It became obvious that all these teeth had been manipulated to look a lot bigger than they were - extending the blade length using donor parts.  

The quality of work is actually pretty impressive.

 

I just wanted to make you all aware.

Luckily PayPal had me covered but they begged me to do a "Friends and Family'' transaction.

If the price is too good to be true...well...

 

Be careful, they are faking a lot of other fossils, such as crabs too.

 

 

  

 

 

[Gizmo]

Very interesting, thanks for the information!

[TeethCollector]

Thank you for the info..

It is quite impressive work. I didn't realize that it is a composite before I see the second photo!

[FossilTime]

Thanks for sharing this. It is a great lesson to see and learn from your dissection. Kudos for the craftsmanship and creativity in making this composite, but a real shame the bad apples ruin the market for the real beautiful teeth from Indonesia. I have a few myself, I'd order 1 tooth and they'd ship another. It was chaos. 

[Guns]

thank for sharing . 

[Phos_01]

Its sad to see this! Allot of fakes out there.

I have to see on the original photo you al see the lower sides don't match up in coloring and texture. The Root is very perfect shaped, what is possible sometimes, but makes it extra suspicious in combination. 

The roots are restored many times, without telling. Sometimes even enlarged. A large perfect teeth without restoration is worth many many more then a restored / enhanced one.
This is why I encourage to buy from a trusted source, sellers who have very good rating , or even better trough connections you make directly from them. 

Hopefully you did not lose too much money.
Luckily there are some nice teeth still out there.

Goodluck! 

[Bobby Rico]

I personally could not tell that the root was a composite. If you buying fossils and your not sure the best advice is to post before buying on the forum. There is many a member that will spot any red flags and are happy to help out. Even if sellers has good ratings it is not a substitute for the buyer to again knowledge. Good ratings only mean the purchaser was happy with their purchase , this does not mean the fossil  had not been tampered with or restored . Even buying from trusted sellers if I had any doubts I would ask the forum, 

Can PayPal get your money back? 

Edited August 13, 2021 by Bobby Rico