The Spectacular Case Of The "crystal Cave" Megalodon Tooth - A Classy Example

[Fossil_Rocks]

Given the enormous number of repaired Megalodon teeth, which we must endure, and in honor of the new sub-forum here, I thought this might be a good time and place to revisit a classic case.

It all began with a simple, but hopeful question, put to the membership here, last year.

The item below was the item in question.

[Fossil_Rocks]

The initial confusion I had with this specimen, was the apparent degree of difficulty involved in manufacturing such a wonder. The labor seemed prohibitively expensive, especially given what I paid for this item.

I found out later, after deep investigation, that this piece was likely manufactured in India, where poor people work very cheap, and have all day to carefully design something like this.

Adding to the hoax is the tooth itself, which appears to be a land find, and unlike anything I've ever seen before. I have zero doubt that the tooth is real, because it's obvious under high magnification, but where it came from is a mystery that I'd love to find an answer to. While it could have been reworked, it's minimal.

It's possible that both the Megalodon tooth and the calcite originally came from Ruck's Pit in Florida, and additional details on this mystery are included in the OP link.

It's like baking a cake, only in this case, with a little glue, calcite, and possibly fluorite added for the frosting. This was evident under UV light, and if I get time, I'll upload some photos demonstrating this. The glue fluoresces at a different wavelength than the calcite and limestone.

Obviously the piece is not without value. It's stunning to behold, and the measurements suggest that the matrix could hold a whole tooth. One of these days I'll have it scanned to see what's in there.

[bigE]

I have dug at the re-located Ruck's Pit many times. As mentioned in the original postings from last year, there is no-zero- white or clear calcite from Ruck's. Only various shades of orange. Same goes for all of the pits I have collected from in south Florida. That said, the tooth is cool.

[Auspex]

It is a neat enough paperweight, but there sure is a lot of 'wishful thinking' going on considering its lack of provenance.

Best to aver to be true only that which is known to be true. This is notably important when alluding to its monetary value, lest your enthusiasm be misconstrued.

[RJB]

Most deffinetly a cool paper weight!!!

RB

[Fossil_Rocks]

I have dug at the re-located Ruck's Pit many times. As mentioned in the original postings from last year, there is no-zero- white or clear calcite from Ruck's. Only various shades of orange. Same goes for all of the pits I have collected from in south Florida. That said, the tooth is cool.

The calcite didn't come from there, just possibly the tooth.

This was manufactured in India using calcite from India. What someone in the U.S. was doing, was sending spcimens from Rucks to be enhanced in India through various means.

That was my understanding from talking to the owner of Rucks. He wasn't responsible for the fabrications, but knew the source of this specimen, he said.