Composite Carcharodontosaurus tooth?

[BirdsAreDinosaurs]

Hi all,

 

This tooth (4.2 cm) was advertised as a Carcharodontosaurustooth that was broken and repaired on two spots. I do however strongly suspect that the tip of the tooth is from a different speciment than the rest of the tooth. It seems to have a somewhat different colour, texture and shine to it. What do you think? Thanks!

[Troodon]

No looks good.  Not sure if the area just below the tip is fill or matrix to cover the tip being reattached and hide missing enamel

[Guns]

great tooth acutually if you don't mind a little repair+gap fill near the tip.

 

Guns

[BirdsAreDinosaurs]

Yes, thanks, I agree it is a nice looking tooth. I must say that in real life the difference in colour and shine of the tip is more pronounced than on these pictures (also, the tip is somewhat thicker), but I guess I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. Is it possible that certain parts of the same fossil break apart at some point in time and therefore end up looking somewhat different in appearance?

Edited January 29, 2022 by BirdsAreDinosaurs

[LordTrilobite]

Repaired, yes.
Composite, probably not.

I'd say this looks pretty good.

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

16 hours ago, BirdsAreDinosaurs said:

Is it possible that certain parts of the same fossil break apart at some point in time and therefore end up looking somewhat different in appearance?

 

While the answer to this question is of course "yes", it'd be "no" with respect to your specimen for the simple fact that the same processes you suggest to explain preservational differences would also make it less likely for the pieces to be found together. In fact, or would increase the probability of the smallest bits crumbling to dust. In addition, old breaks would never result in such clean refitting as is evidenced on your specimen.

 

Much like the others, I also don't see anything wrong with this tooth. However, if you feel something may be wrong with the tip, I suggest you take clear photographs of the suspect area, preferably under daylight lighting conditions, and at an angle that test illustrates the deviances you want people to face a look at.

[BirdsAreDinosaurs]

On 1/30/2022 at 2:45 PM, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

While the answer to this question is of course "yes", it'd be "no" with respect to your specimen for the simple fact that the same processes you suggest to explain preservational differences would also make it less likely for the pieces to be found together. In fact, or would increase the probability of the smallest bits crumbling to dust. In addition, old breaks would never result in such clean refitting as is evidenced on your specimen.

 

Much like the others, I also don't see anything wrong with this tooth. However, if you feel something may be wrong with the tip, I suggest you take clear photographs of the suspect area, preferably under daylight lighting conditions, and at an angle that test illustrates the deviances you want people to face a look at.

Thanks, I will definitely post better images of the suspect areas next time. I did examine this tooth a bit better under different light conditions and noticed that the colour and shine of the tip was also present on another area of the tooth (adjacent to the tip). So, also because none of you guys saw anything suspicious, I will just assume the tooth is not a composite. Thanks for your help!