Is this a Parasaurolophus Fossil Egg?

[Kevinswede]

This is supposably a Dinosaur egg bought in 1982 at "The Arizona rock & Mineral Museum"

I think that museum is long gone, but is the Egg real?

Its supposed to be a Parasaurolophus egg.

[Fossildude19]

@Troodon  @HamptonsDoc  @-Andy-

[FossilNerd]

The experts will chime in on the egg, but a word of warning about certificates of authenticity… They are worth about as much as the paper they are printed on. Which is to say, nearly worthless.

[Rockwood]

It appears to be a genuine fossil egg. It may take closer study to say more, but we'll see. 

[Troodon]

Interesting, its incredibly rare to find a complete, inflated egg from North America most all come from Asia especially back in the 80's.  In addition its incredibly difficult to identify one to a genus unless it was found associated with bones.  My guess is your "egg" was cobbled together with broken eggshells to appear complete.  Hard to see the detail on the eggshell to determine if they are dinosaurian and we have no locality other than North America

[Kevinswede]

6 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Interesting, its incredibly rare to find a complete, inflated egg from North America most all come from Asia especially back in the 80's.  In addition its incredibly difficult to identify one to a genus unless it was found associated with bones.  My guess is your "egg" was cobbled together with broken eggshells to appear complete.  Hard to see the detail on the eggshell to determine if they are dinosaurian and we have no locality other than North America

I see that you are located in Arizona, have you ever heard of "The Arizona rock & Mineral Museum" ?
And Thank you for your input.

[LordTrilobite]

As far as I know, no confirmed Parasaurolophus egg has ever been found. There are definitely many hadrosaur eggs out there though. If it's real it's likely from China.

[DPS Ammonite]

6 minutes ago, Kevinswede said:

I see that you are located in Arizona, have you ever heard of "The Arizona rock & Mineral Museum" ?
And Thank you for your input.

 

A Google search revealed no museum by that name anywhere. I suspect that it was an informal name of a dealer in Winslow; see tag. It sounds similar to the defunct (hopefully soon to be resurrected) Arizona Mineral and Mining Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.

[Kevinswede]

The Egg is not round, its more flattened as you see in this picture

[-Andy-]

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

 

I have never heard of a Parasaurolophus egg. In addition, complete inflated eggs hadrosaur from North America are near unheard of

 

On the other hand, I have seen plenty of eggs like this being sold as Chinese hadrosaur egg, and those of this color, texture and morphology are best avoided because there is no large, continuous shell structure, just a lot of tiny pieces with matrix between them

 

My take is that this is at best a mosaic of real eggshells, at worse, a complete fake

[Troodon]

No I have never heard of that dealer, doubt it was ever a real museum they typically dont provide COA.   Fake eggs from China are a more recent occurrence (in this century) not something you would see in the early 80's why I think it was assembled from material from the States probably Montana where eggshells can be found if they are real.

[Kevinswede]

Thank you, I can proove that it was purchased in 1982, I have the receipt, so I beleve that in the case with this one , that its made up with shell from Montana. 

Thank you all, like they say, If its to good to be true!

 

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by Kevinswede

[Carl]

I agree with the others (no known Parasaurolophus eggs, no inflated North American eggs, looks Chinese, etc.), but I would add that the close-up also shows none of the expected surface texture of genuine eggshell. I'm leaning hard towards complete or near-complete fake.

[jpc]

Ah... the ole certificate of authenticity....