Megalodon Root

[Phos_01]

Goodday

 

Im considering this nice Indonesian Megalodon Tooth, as I got a few in my collection, im looking for one with an authentic root. Sometimes you see these and spot something off immediately , with the color or shape or the root. This one looks quite good. The sellers says its 100% authentic, with only one small fill in the blade blackside. 

 

Any shark experts opinions about it? 

 

 

[Phos_01]

No Shark Experts who can help me out? 

[MarcoSr]

Beautiful crown.  My son Marco Jr. has bought and sold a good number of high quality Indonesian megs.  The Indonesian craftsmen have gotten really good at adding fake roots to the really expensive megs.  They don't spend the same time or effort with most of the cheaper ones.  You really need to look at the roots under UV light and under 10X magnification and can't tell for sure with pictures.  I definitely see areas of concern on this root in the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr,

[Phos_01]

26 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

I definitely see areas of concern on this root in the pictures.

Thank you for your reply

Interesting to read, do you think its filled with some kind of cement coating, and then the whole root colored or something? 

Will try to get UV photos from it

[Troodon]

My bet is that both root lobes are Reconstructed also a different shade

[Phos_01]

3 minutes ago, Troodon said:

My bet is that both root lobes are Reconstructed also a different shade

That would be a problem, A real root is so hard to find. Im just going with photos here, 

The problem will be if the whole root is covered with something like acrylics paint, the UV light will not show anything besides a flat colour . There are products to remove paint, but it might damage it, I don't want this at this price range hmmm. 

[Troodon]

That's the issue with these teeth when you buy Indonesian teeth direct from the source.   Cheaper but do you know what you're getting.  Denatured alcohol may remove acrylic paints.

[MarcoSr]

Blowing up one of your pictures.  This is really a red flag for me as the material from the root overhangs the bourlette in spots.

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[Phos_01]

I just received this UV videos, I know photos are preferred, but they have sended these instead. Im not wiser now its as I was afraid for, just a flat area , could be perfect or could be completely painted . Hope im wrong  

[Phos_01]

7 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

root overhangs the bourlette in spots

Hi Macro, bellow the photos at the start of the posts there is a video, in this video you can see it better, have you seen it?  it did not look concerning to me, just a bit of the start of the crown that is worn of and filled with matrix, in the video it does not appear to be overlapping in my opinion , but im no expert in these 

[MarcoSr]

I wouldn't buy this tooth especially if the sellers say it is 100% authentic.  I think most of the root is original matrix that was shaped and then coated with something.  If you look at the texture of the overhang material you see that same texture in a number of areas in the root.  

 

Marco Sr.

[Troodon]

Like MarcoSr pointed out this overlap into the bourlette is no good.  

 

 

[Phos_01]

One more root video. Same perspective? 

[Phos_01]

It looks like matrix 

[MarcoSr]

3 minutes ago, Phos_01 said:

One more root video. Same perspective? 

5763aea2161647b799efdffbfe602191.MOV

 

Fake root in my opinion and I've seen a number of complete good roots on high quality Indonesian teeth.  My son used to buy the megs directly from the miners.  The teeth were exactly what came out of the ground.  But then even the miners started enhancing and faking the roots to get a lot more money for the teeth.  It became impossible to tell the good roots from the bad using pictures and videos so my son completely stopped buying Indonesian megs.

 

Marco Sr.

[Meganeura]

I'd also add that the root is quite strangely shaped on one side. I know obviously the roots aren't always symmetrical - but I've never seen one complete that angled towards the center of the tooth like this one does. Coupled with everything else - I'd stay away. Definitely  a matrix root.

[Phos_01]

So after having another really good look at the tooth there is one thing that I found really strange , take a look at this, I've marked were, on the back of the root, a bit above the connection with the blade, it is almost like its some sort of tile filler, the line is in one straight colored , never saw this on another tooth , at first I thought it was the blade coming through the matrix, but it seems its not. It looks like the entire root is attached to the blade with a tile cement, could be wrong tho. A bit  bummed out, since I liked this tooth before. 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Phos_01

[MarcoSr]

9 hours ago, Phos_01 said:

 A bit  bummed out, since I liked this tooth before. 

 

 

Another red flag.  It is really tough to judge a lot of these Indonesian megs from pictures and videos.  But I'm convinced this one has a fake root.  Better to be bummed out by the pictures than being bummed out holding the meg in your hand after paying a lot of money for it.

 

Marco Sr.

[Phos_01]

11 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

Another red flag;

Yesterday I was offered another nice Meg tooth who had the same line this time Black matching the tooth ,So I think I was wrong on this assumption , there must be a reason for it , perhaps its the tooth showing trough the root because of the preservation that was missing on this part of the root . Nevertheless to many people saw red flags in the root ! 

 

11 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

paying a lot of money for it

Thats very true, its very sad to find out lateron once you acquired it. 

[Troodon]

57 minutes ago, Phos_01 said:

there must be a reason for it ,

Yes to add the root to the crown

 

This is what it should look like.

[fossilhunter21]

I think the black line looks a glue line.

 

Cheers and Shalom,

 

-Micah

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by fossilhunter21

[aeon.rocks]

Lol! Ok… The glue lines you are seeing are actually gum lines. All natural! You ever seen a bourlette? It’s on the labial side too, although not often completely preserved. Usually it’s not preserved. 
 

Regarding the indonesian tooth in question, i bet that’s a real root without resto - it’s clearly seen in the video. Truth is however, that you can’t spot a good usa resto just by photos. You CAN however see indonesian resto and there is no indo resto on the root. I don’t see red flags in the videos (except for the high price and the minor resto on the labial side of the blade which lights up in UV - that resto is disclossed in description- i think this is a good tooth).
 

Just look at UV videos, resto on the root should be visible like it is visible in the blade.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by aeon.rocks

[webmasterj]

"The sellers says its 100% authentic, with only one small fill in the blade blackside. "
The seller just contradicted themselves right away, I would start there.  As others have stated some concerning areas on that tooth to say the least.

[aeon.rocks]

Many meg experts here, i see. Well, if you want to see red flags i bet you can see red flags everywhere or nowhere. Wanna play a game? Let’s see how good you are in spotting restoration. 

 

PS: if you know the teeth below, don’t cheat! I’m curious about red flags… 
 

Which tooth among these is restored and where restoration is?
 

Or maybe no resto? 

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by aeon.rocks

[Phos_01]

1 hour ago, aeon.rocks said:

actually gum lines

What are Gum Lines? Please explain 

 

1 hour ago, aeon.rocks said:

You ever seen a bourlette

I also did not know what it was. After looking i looked it up, found this clear image. 

 

1 hour ago, aeon.rocks said:

It’s on the labial side

Meaning the inside of its mouth right? 
 

just asking al these questions as I want to learn more about this and it maybe helps others also while reading this

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Phos_01