Quality of this Spinosaurus tooth?

[lovanah]

I am a total noob, this is my first fossil. Bought it just yesterday. I fell in love with Spinos long ago and when I realized I could actually purchase a tooth, I was on it.

 

I got it at a pretty reputable store here in Tokyo that works adjecent to a science organization, so I felt quite confident buying it despite not knowing a single thing about what to look out for in terms of quality. The label says it's from Taouz, Morocco. It's 8.5cm / 3.3 inches long.

 

I would love some feedback on whether this tooth looks restored or repaired in any way, or any overall comments on its quality.

 

Note: the colors of the photos may be slightly oversaturated because my phone camera loves to act fancy. I tried my best!

Edited September 3, 2022 by lovanah

[Phos_01]

4 hours ago, lovanah said:

I am a total noob, this is my first fossil. Bought it just yesterday

Hello and welcome to the forum. I started here about a good year also, we have all been noobs at some point  I still have tons to learn.

 

4 hours ago, lovanah said:

I would love some feedback on whether this tooth looks restored or repaired in any way, or any overall comments on its quality.

In my opinion its restored yes. Heres what I see, the root has been altered to make it look bigger , ive marked with red were I believe it has been enhanced. 

The Tip is also restored and mostly visible at this photo see marked area. 

I find the overal look of the tooth , good. 

Seen much worse , the emaille looks good, just know the end part of the root is most likely not real. This is very common , its extremely rare to find an original tooth with an intact root and a tooth that looks good.  

Some would perhaps opper to say to return it , I would keep it, because it looks fairly good, especially for a first Fossil purchase. 

 

Hope this helps

Nice day and good luck collecting 
 

[lovanah]

@Phos_01 Thank you so much for the feedback!

 

I went over the areas you mentioned and took some more photos with more focused lighting. Maybe this will help determine more.

[lovanah]

@Phos_01 Just to add, thank you for the kind welcoming message. I fell in love with this tooth, they had a few other ones in the store. Some much wider and bigger, but out of my budget haha. I will definitely be keeping it even if it's had restoration or repairs done! I'm mostly just curious and excited to learn from all of you guys here.

 

By the way, would you say that buying fossils from a shop that works adjacent to a well known museum / science organization is any more reputable? What I mean by that is a shop that actually uses the organization's name, not just some random stand someone opened next to the larger establishment. I know I can't share specifics of where I got it here, but I was wondering if there's a general opinion on those types of sources. 

[Troodon]

Welcome to the forum, happy to provide you my opinion. 

I think the crown is nice and see nothing wrong with it.  Can you take some additional photos, all around the circled area.  Need to see crown and root.  Thank you.

 

 

Trying to determine if the root area is fill and composited to the base.  The surface texture is different than the what you see in the lower part of the root which is a red flag.   My initial reaction seeing the tooth was that its fine without being composited at the root but like to confirm that.

[lovanah]

@Troodon Thank you for taking the time to share your opinion! I'm glad to hear you think the crown looks nice and healthy.  

 

Happy to oblige with the additional photos. Here's some close up of the middle section. It is nighttime where I am so I used overhead lighting plus a side spot light for these pictures. There might be a little reflection, I apologize. I tried to get the most detailed photos, there are multiple shots from all four sides of the tooth.

 

 

[lovanah]

@Troodon Sorry I think I messed that up, you asked for root AND crown and I cut the crown out a little too much in the previous photos. Here's some more:

 

 

[Troodon]

You read me right the first time thank you for the additional pictures.  I think you have a very nice tooth. The change in texture appears just to be preservation issues and not a composite.  There might be some fill but overall 

[Phos_01]

3 hours ago, lovanah said:

By the way, would you say that buying fossils from a shop that works adjacent to a well known museum / science organization is any more reputable? What I mean by that is a shop that actually uses the organization's name, not just some random stand someone opened next to the larger establishment. I know I can't share specifics of where I got it here, but I was wondering if there's a general opinion on those types of sources. 

Heres what I have learned so far, the is no single shop / museum or person that you can blindly trust and buy from, some are better than others but still. Since each Fossil is unique and so different on many levels, quality and authenticity can be completely off, and then people have different opinions also. I have read and saw, that sometimes a seller sells things that are questionable for these reasons , this is normal. So the best thing you can trust, is your own knowledge , that you can obtain by reading allot,  and study what you find and read here on the forum. My advice would be to always post photos of what you want to buy before you buy it, on this forum, and see what others think. There are people here like Troodon who know so much, its amazing. 

[lovanah]

1 hour ago, Troodon said:

I think you have a very nice tooth. The change in texture appears just to be preservation issues and not a composite.  There might be some fill but overall 

 

Thank you so much @Troodon! I am very happy to hear that. It is indeed a gorgeous tooth, even more so in person. I must've had beginner's luck with my purchase because I definitely didn't know what to look out for. I could've easily stumbled into something with a lot of red flags and quality issues. Now I love my new tooth even more.

 

37 minutes ago, Phos_01 said:

Heres what I have learned so far, the is no single shop / museum or person that you can blindly trust and buy from, some are better than others but still.

 

Thank you for that feedback @Phos_01! That's a good tip to keep in mind for the future.

 

39 minutes ago, Phos_01 said:

My advice would be to always post photos of what you want to buy before you buy it, on this forum, and see what others think.

 

This is the way to go, for sure. I wish I had discovered this forum earlier because I would've definitely asked first.

 

Thank you both so much for taking the time to look over my fossil!  

 

- A very happy new Spino tooth owner

 

 

Bonus picture with cat for scale:

[LordTrilobite]

The crown itself is fine. Nothing wrong there. The root does seem to be composited on, sadly. Horizontal lines can be seen where areas have been filled in.

[siteseer]

On 9/3/2022 at 6:46 AM, Troodon said:

You read me right the first time thank for the additional pictures.  I think you have a very nice tooth. The change in texture appears just to be preservation issues and not a composite.  There might be some fill but overall 

 

I agree.  The tip is a little worn but looks original.  There does seem to be an unnatural constriction just below the crown.  If it were mine, I might dig a little into the root with a pin vise around that spot to see if it's real without making a mess.  But you know what?  If it's your first tooth, it's fine.  You need to start somewhere.

 

The first dinosaur tooth I ever bought was an albertosaur.  It had been painted.  A fossil dealer I had just met pointed it out to me and he took a little of the paint off to show me but it was fine underneath.