Is this a real Trilobite?

[msloewen]

I bought this today, and just want to know if it’s real or not. I’m new to rock and fossil collection. 
 

thanks!

[Huntonia]

Looks to be a genuine phacopid trilobite from Morocco. These are very common and not particularly valuable so rarely faked

[kgbudge]

Yes, I have one very much like this. Very common, yet when prepared well, they are almost unbelievably good.

[FranzBernhard]

Real, but it looks really butchered.

 

2 hours ago, Huntonia said:

These are very common and not particularly valuable so rarely faked

Common, but time-consuming (tens of hours) to prep really properly and nicely. Their monetary value is in the time spend for prepping. So I can imagine making a cast from a properly prepped specimens is much more "efficient" from a monetary point of view than to prep another one really well.

 

1 hour ago, kgbudge said:

Very common, yet when prepared well, they are almost unbelievably good.

To the point!
 

Franz Bernhard

[Huntonia]

7 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

Common, but time-consuming (tens of hours) to prep really properly and nicely. Their monetary value is in the time spend for prepping. So I can imagine making a cast from a properly prepped specimens is much more "efficient" from a monetary point of view than to prep another one really well.

Absolutely, I'm sure it is more monetarily efficent to make casts of a quality specimen than to spend the time prepping one well. That being said I doubt there's much profit to be made in casting these, I don't imagine quality casts of a quality specimen would readily sell for much more than the cost of the materials and time involved in making those casts.

 

I see a lot of fake Moroccan trilos, but very rarely see the small phacopids faked unless it's part of a fake assemblage. I think it tends to be easier to sell a fake or butchered bug of a more appealing species than a high quality trilo of a common species, so there isn't much incentive to put in the time treating them well or faking them.

[FranzBernhard]

1 hour ago, Huntonia said:

I think it tends to be easier to sell a fake or butchered bug of a more appealing species than a high quality trilo of a common species

I am not into Trilos, so I did not consider this aspect! Thanks for pointing it out to me!
Franz Bernhard

[grandpa]

I see this is your first post on the forum.  Let me extend a Welcome! to the forum.  It's good to have you as a part of the group.