Trilobite Identification Help

[joshuavise]

Hi all,

I found a trilobite today while passing a rock shop in Daegu, South Korea, where I live.  I've always wanted one, but fossil collecting is virtually unheard of here (at least as far as I know), so when I saw this one, I decided to get it.  I was hoping for help identifying this particular species.  The man at the rock shop said the specimen was from Mexico, and that it is real, but couldn't say much else (my Korean is terrible, and he didn't speak English).  If it turns out to be fake, I won't be hugely disappointed, and would just consider it a pretty model.  Here are some pictures.  Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[daves64]

Looks real, but who ever prepped it caused a fair amount of damage. The scraped lines across the body don't match up with the segments & several go at angles across them. I don't think it's fake, just a bad prep job. Head seems ok though. But I'm no expert, just saying what I'm seeing.

[joshuavise]

I kind of thought the same.  My initial suspicion was that it would be real, but heavily restored, especially seeing as how the tail end is a different color (or maybe it looks different because the prepper didn't bother to scrape it up).  All the same, I like having it.  If it is real but damaged, it can be my little Charlie-Brown-Christmas-tree of a trilobite.

Edited November 18, 2022 by joshuavise

[Kane]

Much of this trilobite is largely fabricated. The trilobite it is attempting to be is very likely a Coltraneia oufatenensis from the Devonian of Morocco.

[joshuavise]

4 minutes ago, Kane said:

Much of this trilobite is largely fabricated. The trilobite it is attempting to be is very likely a Coltraneia oufatenensis from the Devonian of Morocco.

Thank you so much for the ID!  Knowing that part of it is the real deal is special enough for me.  It was cheap enough.

If you don't mind, could you point out the parts that you suspect are fabricated, and what parts may be genuine?  

[Advantage]

The pygdium (tail) appears to be fake or its a cut and shut job. The matrix between the segments compared to the thorax look different.In fact it looks like it has been made by the hand of man... Its a big trade in Morocco and the specimen certainly looks like its from there and not Mexico.

 

Steve

[joshuavise]

Thank you very much for your response.  I had my own suspicions, but I thought the eyes were detailed enough that it could possibly be the real deal.  If it turns out to be a fancy paperweight, that's a bit disappointing, but not completely unexpected.

As an aside, I liked the experience of having this one so much that I ordered a legit one from a reputable dealer online; a Metacanthina issoumourensis!