Fake Cretaceous Insect Fossils from China are now on sale at a show near you

[Biotalker]

I went to a local fossil show and saw some highly priced insects too good to be true. They were. Some were done quite well but my $15 30X loupe (magnifying glass) really made the fakes obvious. I took these pics at the show. Pic 1 is presumably a Neuroptera on matrix. Pic 2 is the same Neuroptera though the loupe and you can see it is an obvious forgery. It has been painted. Pic 3 is an obvious painted insect on a piece with 2 cretaceous Lycoptera fish, raising its selling price at least 50 fold. The abdomen in this case is especially badly done.  Pic 4 is a different kind of fake, it is an Odonata that has been finely printed onto the matrix. With the loupe, I can clearly see the pixels of ink, but I couldn't get a convincing picture at the show. 

Walk softly and carry a big......................loupe.

sorry, pics are not in the order I uploaded them, but you can figure it out

 

[JamieLynn]

wow. Just wow. The first Picture I would honestly not recognize as a fake. It is what I would expect to see...some deterioration, some missing imagery. But the others .....jeez. Those are just so obvious. 

[Biotalker]

12 minutes ago, JamieLynn said:

wow. Just wow. The first Picture I would honestly not recognize as a fake. It is what I would expect to see...some deterioration, some missing imagery. But the others .....jeez. Those are just so obvious. 

Its even sneakier, since there was a "counterpart" (of the odonata) that is the same image just altering the ink intensity so it kind of looks legit - until you break out the loupe.

[RJB]

Excellent post!

 

RB

[Fossildude19]

Moved to Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications.   

[Biotalker]

I just found a somewhat decent pic I took at the show of the printed fake insect (odonata). I took 5 others and they were all completely out of focus. Through the loupe you can just make out the pixelated nature of the fake. Notice its over the same fossil as above.

[Wrangellian]

It's a minefield out there. 

[FranzBernhard]

On 8/23/2021 at 3:12 AM, Biotalker said:

has been finely printed onto the matrix.

Is this a new kind of forgery?

 

On 8/23/2021 at 4:04 AM, Biotalker said:

Its even sneakier, since there was a "counterpart" (of the odonata) that is the same image just altering the ink intensity so it kind of looks legit

Oh well....

 

Franz Bernhard

[Biotalker]

I would like to speculate a little on the next generation of fakes. These that we see recently are too perfect, even if not perfectly drawn or painted. I mean they project an ideal image of the critter. But we all know that rarely happens. What better way to go undetected, then, is for future forgeries to exhibit a relatively rare or valuable fossil, but now drawn or printed in ways that show some imperfection. All they would have to do is use real imperfect fossils as templates to generate fakes that would be more likely to bypass critical view because they are somewhat flawed.

 

From what I see, a very flat surface on the matrix is necessary for the forger to paint or print. Also the fake fossil itself is also necessarily very flat. 

 

Therefore, be very aware of flat fossils that appear on a flat matrix.

 

And yes, any of us on a bad day can be fooled!

 

[Biotalker]

I took one more picture of an insect fake at the recent Fossil Show. It was highly priced and it took me a while to realize it. It's a printed dragonfly.

[carch_23]

7 hours ago, Biotalker said:

I took one more picture of an insect fake at the recent Fossil Show. It was highly priced and it took me a while to realize it. It's a printed dragonfly.

Just a question if I may ask. Since you brought a loop along with you, Im assuming the sellers are aware/ notice you looking through their fossils with it. Because its definitely great advice, though does that make it a bit awkward for them once you whip the loop out? Cause although Id definitely do that, I just wouldnt know what to say if they ask me something along the lines of "Are you questioning the authenticity of my fossils?".

[rocket]

Printed dragonfly..., incredible

I have seen one like this before and was shocked. Next step will be laser engraved or painted and overnext...

I am afraid of this. when you see them on the show you can check, but when you buy in the net..., high risk. So, never buy in the net without guarantee

Have you seen them at the Denver show?

 

[Kane]

2 hours ago, carch_23 said:

Just a question if I may ask. Since you brought a loop along with you, Im assuming the sellers are aware/ notice you looking through their fossils with it. Because its definitely great advice, though does that make it a bit awkward for them once you whip the loop out? Cause although Id definitely do that, I just wouldnt know what to say if they ask me something along the lines of "Are you questioning the authenticity of my fossils?".

It need not be confrontational at all.  It is just as easy to say that you are inspecting the morphological detail of the fossil itself, and that you find it helps to see that detail with the aid of the loupe instead of relying solely on the naked eye. It may be no different than purchasing an antique table where one carefully examines the detail and condition prior to deciding. 

 

I've been present when sellers are conducting private transactions and trades with one another, and both sides commonly carry a loupe to inspect the quality of preservation and preparation of the other's specimens on offer. This helps them ballpark a sale or trade value as a negotiation point: "yes, this is a very nice specimen, but maybe you'd consider a slight reduction in the offering price on account of a few prep mistakes here and here." 

[rocket]

3 hours ago, carch_23 said:

Just a question if I may ask. Since you brought a loop along with you, Im assuming the sellers are aware/ notice you looking through their fossils with it. Because its definitely great advice, though does that make it a bit awkward for them once you whip the loop out? Cause although Id definitely do that, I just wouldnt know what to say if they ask me something along the lines of "Are you questioning the authenticity of my fossils?".

I am sure, a serious seller will allow to check. We are Dealers and not afraid if one takes his magnifying glass to proof. When someone will impede this, I am sure the person knows the the fossil is not as offered.

When I go to buy a car I love the check, too...

[Biotalker]

4 hours ago, carch_23 said:

Just a question if I may ask. Since you brought a loop along with you, Im assuming the sellers are aware/ notice you looking through their fossils with it. Because its definitely great advice, though does that make it a bit awkward for them once you whip the loop out? Cause although Id definitely do that, I just wouldnt know what to say if they ask me something along the lines of "Are you questioning the authenticity of my fossils?".

I will tell you what happened. One seller I had gotten to know over the years at the show had a couple of these insect fakes and when I found the first fake-one of the painted ones- on his table, I called him over and he looked closely until he agreed with me and took it down. Later on, someone was buying a fossil piece from him that was the printed dragonfly, the seller in the middle of the sale called me over, handed me the fossil and asked "what about this one?" When I said in my opinion it was also fake, he cancelled the sale and offered me a big discount on anything he had for helping him. I got the impression some supplier was going to be hearing from him!

The same seller then asked to take the fossil over to the Chinese dealer and show it to him. He was an affable bright chap who was looked intently at it through the loupe. He agreed and said that they come out of the region like that. Perhaps/probably he already knew. But he had some terrific (real) fossils. I bought this cheapie from him, which I consider a non-suspicious lycoptera association piece...............with pine needles .

 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Biotalker

[carch_23]

54 minutes ago, Biotalker said:

I will tell you what happened. One seller I had gotten to know over the years at the show had a couple of these insect fakes and when I found the first fake-one of the painted ones- on his table, I called him over and he looked closely until he agreed with me and took it down. Later on, someone was buying a fossil piece from him that was the printed dragonfly, the seller in the middle of the sale called me over, handed me the fossil and asked "what about this one?" When I said in my opinion it was also fake, he cancelled the sale and offered me a big discount on anything he had for helping him. I got the impression some supplier was going to be hearing from him!

The same seller then asked to take the fossil over to the Chinese dealer and show it to him. He was an affable bright chap who was looked intently at it through the loupe. He agreed and said that they come out of the region like that. Perhaps/probably he already knew. But he had some terrific (real) fossils. I bought this cheapie from him, which I consider a non-suspicious lycoptera association piece...............with pine needles .

 

 

Thanks for sharing that with us. I guess not all dealers are aware of the quality/ authenticity of their own fossils. Really nice of them to have been happy not to take the sale and even offer you a discount! 

 

And lovely acquisition!!

 

 

 

[Top Trilo]

3 hours ago, rocket said:

Have you seen them at the Denver show?

When I went I did not see any suspicious dragonflies. I didn't see many and going back to my pictures I only saw one dealer with dragonflies, none were flat, all seemed real. However I am sure other dealers had dragonflies (real or fake), I just didn't see them.

[RuMert]

It's easy to predict more and more fakes as technology improves while people don't. All the high-priced stuff tends to be fake, the only real protection being low prices and abundance of some fossil types. Stop buying expensive fakes, go to the nearest appealing site and have some quality time (I know it's not always possible, but usually is)

[Crusty_Crab]

Excellent post, I personally love fakes because of what they can teach us. By understanding whats wrong with something, it can help us understand the real deal. For example, this is a closeup of the "Neuropteran":

 

 

A very good rule of thumb in spotting fakes is looking for symmetry. In the image, you can see the Costa, labeled C and the Subcosta, labeled SC. Notice how on the left wing, the Costa and Subcosta terminate independently into the thorax. On the right wing, the Subcosta merges with the Costa before terminating in the.. head?? I suppose its possible the right wing got disarticulated and is no longer attached to the thorax. The Subcosta cannot be merged with the Costa though. Any pilot will tell you that any flight with asymmetric wings is going to be a short one.  

Also, on the right wing, there is a third vein, which could be the Radius (R) or Media (M). The posterior-most branching veins I'll interpret as the Anal veins (A). Looking at the left wing, the R or M veins have disappeared and only the Anal veins are present. 

 

This leads me to another conclusion, whoever drew this completely made it up. It was not an exact copy of an extant specimen. An extant specimen would not have such radically asymmetric wings. If it was a copy, whatever original specimen they copied from would have been a very interesting specimen. It would have been extensively cross braced between the C and SC, which is unique and the Radial vein would have been extensively branched, 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Crusty_Crab

[Crusty_Crab]

I'd also like to add something about the antennae on the specimen above. Antennae on insects come in different shapes, and long slender antennae would be possible. However, antennae are segmented. Under magnification, I would expect to see the individual segments of the antennae. I don't know of an insect with antennae composed of a single long, flexible segment.

[aplomado]

Wow, those printed ones sure would have fooled me.

[Mousehead]

Always bring a loupe with you!  When they inevitably offer you one, and they will, whip out your own for a show of paleontological dominance.

[LabRatKing]

I'm going on record as stating some of the obviously hand painted/ hand drawn specimens are works of art that require some skills. If sold as art, I would display one.

 

The screen printed dragonfly made me laugh out loud. Sneaky, but should have gone with UV transfer films. Need a microscope and UV to tell on those. haha

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Wow! Just... wow! Printed fossil insects! What's next? 3D-printed fossil eggs? These forgers really make every aspect of life a lot harder than it needs to be for everyone

[jpc]

I took a class once on printing copies of fossils found as carbon impressions on shale, such as insects.  It is pretty easy and with some practice one can easily make beautiful copies of fossil insects that would need a loupe to ID as prints.