Is my trilobite real?

[Muffinsaurus]

A weekend trip lead to my wife asking me to pick out a trilobite fossil as a gift. I looked as close as I could in the somewhat dimly lit building and found one I liked and was fairly sure it was real at the time. Even the tag started it was authentic.

 

While doing research about metacanthina issoumourensis I noticed online prices and the price she paid for it were vastly different. Red flags went off and I started looking the item over closely. I know in my heart of hearts it has to be a fake. However I'm still a novice at best and I could very well be wrong. I'm hoping I'm wrong. So I'm turning to you all with vastly more knowledge than myself for the truth.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

 

[Fossildude19]

Yes. Completely real. A nice trilobite.

Prices can vary, and some people are inexperienced with pricing fossils accurately.

 

Cropped and rotated:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Muffinsaurus]

5 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Yes. Completely real.

Wait, really? That makes me feel so much better.

Thank you very much

If you don't mind me asking how can you tell? I'm not questioning your knowledge, just curious so that I may improve my identification of authenticity skills. 

[Fossildude19]

Well, there is a lot of detail on this piece. 

There are chips in the integument on the axial rings in the last picture I posted.

The missing pleural segments on the left side.

The eye facets. And the color changes in the trilobite.

All of these point to it being real, to me.

 

Also the crack that runs through the genal spine is indicative that it is real. They break the rocks open, and see the trilobite in cross section to see where it is. Then they glue the rock back together and prep from outside to get to the trilobite.

 

Usually if they are going to fake something, they try to make it look perfect.

[FranzBernhard]

Real also in my eyes.

I am noticing some bright spots in some spines, these could be preparation mistakes?

Its not the best prep, but by for not the worst.

I am noticing also the "discovery crack".

Franz Bernhard

 

[Mochaccino]

+1 for real, as the others have said. 

 

The main things I always look for in any decent authentic specimen are the presence of numerous eye lenses and detailed shell texture (most evident in Fossildude19's last photo; you can see tiny pustules/bumps on the surface). These are difficult to emulate and will be absent on most fakes. Some badly prepped authentic specimens might lack these details, but you probably don't want those anyways.

 

The really bad fake resin casts will also often have tiny holes aka "air bubbles", which is a result of air escaping as the resin cured.

 

In addition, the presence of a repaired crack through the specimen is also a nod to authenticity, as others have already explained. 

 

You picked well, and it sounds like you got it at a good price too, congrats!

Edited August 8, 2022 by Mochaccino

[Muffinsaurus]

1 hour ago, Fossildude19 said:

Well, there is a lot of detail on this piece. 

There are chips in the integument on the axial rings in the last picture I posted.

The missing pleural segments on the left side.

The eye facets. And the color changes in the trilobite.

All of these point to it being real, to me.

 

Also the crack that runs through the genal spine is indicative that it is real. They break the rocks open, and see the trilobite in cross section to see where it is. Then they glue the rock back together and prep from outside to get to the trilobite.

 

Usually if they are going to fake something, they try to make it look perfect.

 

1 hour ago, FranzBernhard said:

Real also in my eyes.

I am noticing some bright spots in some spines, these could be preparation mistakes?

Its not the best prep, but by for not the worst.

I am noticing also the "discovery crack".

Franz Bernhard

 

 

39 minutes ago, Mochaccino said:

+1 for real, as the others have said. 

 

The main things I always look for in any decent authentic specimen are the presence of numerous eye lenses and detailed shell texture (most evident in Fossildude19's last photo; you can see tiny pustules/bumps on the surface). These are difficult to emulate and will be absent on most fakes. Some badly prepped authentic specimens might lack these details, but you probably don't want those anyways.

 

The really bad fake resin casts will also often have tiny holes aka "air bubbles", which is a result of air escaping as the resin cured.

 

In addition, the presence of a repaired crack through the specimen is also a nod to authenticity, as others have already explained. 

 

You picked well, and it sounds like you got it at a good price too, congrats!

Thank you all for explaining this too me! While at the shop the only thing I knew to look for was the eyes. I knew to look for the repair crack, but somehow didn't see it while I was there nore did I see it when I took the pictures. As for the rest of the stuff, I didn't even know to look for it (such as missing parts).

 

Once again thank you all for helping further my personal education!