A fake fossil fish

[nala]

First time i receive a fake fossil fish!looks like a Triassic Fossil Fish In Nodule - Madagascar but in fact plaster and paint !

[Fossildude19]

Hmm. That's a new one on me. First I've ever seen. Troubling. 

[RJB]

Thats gotta be the best fake ive ever seen.  Are you sure its fake?

 

RB

[LordTrilobite]

Wouldn't that just make it a replica? Clearly the anatomy and details are all cast from a real fossil if it is just plaster.
But I would agree with RJB. It looks very realistic. Isn't this just a natural cast inside a nodule?

[Yoda]

Something looks off with this 

Especially the edges 

 

Agree with @Fossildude19 - troubling

[Fossildude19]

6 minutes ago, LordTrilobite said:

Wouldn't that just make it a replica? Clearly the anatomy and details are all cast from a real fossil if it is just plaster.
But I would agree with RJB. It looks very realistic. Isn't this just a natural cast inside a nodule?

 I don't think so. These nodules do not naturally show any kind of white minerals/matrix.

Gery's image shows some clearly white areas - I'm guessing he may have scratched them a bit to determine if it is plaster or matrix.

 

 

[Yoda]

And also, the mark down the centre of the body.

These nodules often have very obvious cracks. This looks filled in 

[Yoda]

This is one of mine 

 

 

[Fossildude19]

4 minutes ago, Yoda said:

This is one of mine 

 

 

Yoda,

 

Is that white matrix on yours?  Looks white on the upper left of your image

[nala]

Yes,i think it's probably a cast from a real fossil,totally plaster and paint! and i used acetone to clearly see the white plaster  a lot of artistic work!

Edited January 18, 2023 by nala

[Yoda]

A few of mine seem to have a bit of white 

But just part of the preservation ??

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Yoda

[Phos_01]

1 hour ago, nala said:

but in fact plaster and paint

Oh thats sad to hear, I must say its a pretty good job, im not an expert in fish material at all, but I would say its real just by looking at it. 

Perhaps like some said a cast and then painted over it, but it raises the question , why,? is it worth it ? its not that expensive I would imagine. Someone has spend a considerable amount of time painting and building this. 

[nala]

1 hour ago, Phos_01 said:

Oh thats sad to hear, I must say its a pretty good job, im not an expert in fish material at all, but I would say its real just by looking at it. 

Perhaps like some said a cast and then painted over it, but it raises the question , why,? is it worth it ? its not that expensive I would imagine. Someone has spend a considerable amount of time painting and building this. 

this "artistic fossil"came from a old collection and it's true "Someone has spend a considerable amount of time painting and building this. "why?

[Yoda]

3 minutes ago, nala said:

this "artistic fossil"came from a old collection and it's true "Someone has spend a considerable amount of time painting and building this. "why?

These are relatively easy to get hold of now, but perhaps in the past, they were are lot rarer. So a cast was one way of getting a representative example ? 

[LordTrilobite]

If that's a replica, then it's a very good one. The detail seems really good for something that's supposedly made of plaster.

[hadrosauridae]

19 minutes ago, LordTrilobite said:

If that's a replica, then it's a very good one. The detail seems really good for something that's supposedly made of plaster.

If its fake, its not "made" as in sculpted,, its a casting from a mold. They could crank out dozens a day from a single mold with about a dollar worth of plaster. It's about 95% profit, even if its sold cheap.

[LordTrilobite]

24 minutes ago, hadrosauridae said:

If its fake, its not "made" as in sculpted,, its a casting from a mold. They could crank out dozens a day from a single mold with about a dollar worth of plaster. It's about 95% profit, even if its sold cheap.

I don't think they'd be cranked out by the dozen since the detail quality is really good. The mass produced replicas we often see with Moroccan trilobites don't have no where near this detail.

[hadrosauridae]

1 hour ago, LordTrilobite said:

I don't think they'd be cranked out by the dozen since the detail quality is really good. The mass produced replicas we often see with Moroccan trilobites don't have no where near this detail.

 

You're confusing details on these.  Yes, they can be cranked out that fast.  I have molds of fossils I made, and the only aspect to how fast I can produce casts is how fast the epoxy cures.. Details?  The detail reproduction of silicone is amazing.  I can rub a wood stick across a plastic cup and it will reproduce those micro scratches.

Moroccan fake trilobites arent using modern molding and casting processes.  They are hand sculpting them, because the people doing it are getting paid pennies and have nothing but time to do it.  Two very different processes.

[LordTrilobite]

12 minutes ago, hadrosauridae said:

 

You're confusing details on these.  Yes, they can be cranked out that fast.  I have molds of fossils I made, and the only aspect to how fast I can produce casts is how fast the epoxy cures.. Details?  The detail reproduction of silicone is amazing.  I can rub a wood stick across a plastic cup and it will reproduce those micro scratches.

Moroccan fake trilobites arent using modern molding and casting processes.  They are hand sculpting them, because the people doing it are getting paid pennies and have nothing but time to do it.  Two very different processes.

While I will admit I don't know that much about the process of casting. But the molds reduce in detail quality after using them several times right? That's what I mean with very nice detail. Seems to me a good casting from a detailed mold that hasn't been used all that much.
Unless I'm mistaking of course.

[hadrosauridae]

You are mistaken.  Molds can be reused many, many times with great detail on the cast.

[rocket]

can you post a pic from the other side and have you tried to prick it with a hot needle?

[Phos_01]

1 hour ago, hadrosauridae said:

You are mistaken.  Molds can be reused many, many times with great detail on the cast

Djeezes, there goes my hope for humanity  So wrong, you literally cannot trust any fossils these days. 

[JBkansas]

On 1/19/2023 at 8:49 AM, LordTrilobite said:

I don't think they'd be cranked out by the dozen since the detail quality is really good. The mass produced replicas we often see with Moroccan trilobites don't have no where near this detail.

There was a post a while back with rows of identical museum quality (my words) fish fossil casts (3D printed replicas) on a black matrix from a fossil factory in China. 

 

The only way you could tell it was fake was that they were all identical.

 

Found it:

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by JBkansas

[nala]

21 hours ago, rocket said:

can you post a pic from the other side and have you tried to prick it with a hot needle?

the other side,and a part i scratch and try to use hot needle and a flame,it's plaster

Edited January 20, 2023 by nala

[Yoda]

@nala

 

Have you approached the seller for a refund ?