Avoid Large Moroccan Dino Claws For Now

[-Andy-]

I will not mention the name of this seller....

One of my Moroccan sources have highlighted to me the presence of fake dinosaur claws on Ebay at the moment. In fact, he claims to have even visited the house of the man that made the fake fossils.

Here are some pics from this scam seller.

"Exceptional" Spinosaurus toe claw, 5.90 inches

"Exceptional" Carch tooth with root, 5.31 inches

"Exceptional" Spinosaurus foot claw, 5.59 inches

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Here's some real ones for comparison.

Spino claw.

Rooted Spino tooth (I know it's not carch, notice how the end doesn't taper into a whale tooth-like root)

Edited October 21, 2015 by JohnJ
seller name removed

[LordTrilobite]

I'd say that third foot claw would have fooled me.

Good info.

[RJB]

Would have fooled me too! Wow!

RB

[Troodon]

Andy those are good representation of how skilled some of these artists are and how easily buyers can be scamed. Fabrication of Moroccan dinosaur material has been a problem for years just come to the Tucson gem and mineral show. There is very little we can do other than what you are doing by publicizing the fraud.

[fossilized6s]

I like how the "seller" describes them of having the "original sand matrix covering the surface". Haha

[Troodon]

Matrix and glue is the number one method used to disguise repairs/restoration and fabrication. So if you see any it should be a red flag.

If you think these are bad this guy is actually selling these "claws" and continues to post new ones.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/53963-misdentified-dinosaur-listings-on-auction-site/

Edited May 24, 2015 by Troodon

[-Andy-]

Andy- so you know for sure those are fake? Does your friend know the seller? I have to admit all 3 would have fooled me. Even the carch tooth looks to have enamel. I have seen good fakes but those are almost art. Just think of how many people have bought from this guy? Its a real shame. Especially because it gives the honest moroccan sellers bad names.

Do I know for sure? No. Only the tooth.

Do I think they are fake? Yes. Because they lack the pores commonly seen in bone and claw material.

Does my source know the seller? No. But he just went to the house of the "artist" who supplied the fake claws to this seller.

Note that at least the crown of the Carch tooth is real.

And yes, this really gives honest Moroccan sellers a bad name, which is why my source highlighted this to me.

[Farfel 53]

There are fake artists in every area of collecting, militaria, art, antiques, etc. Where there are rare and expensive items the fakers will ply their trade. I agree with Troodon best to expose them.

[sseth]

Sadly this has been going on for years. I have seen these fake claws at Tucson over the years but there are now many more of them on the market. Quite sad really.

[royalqualityfossils]

Good evening everyone,

I'm one of the owners of the store you've been talking about. I was notified this topic exists by an eBay user that accused me of scamming. Just wanted to say that I understand perfectly your concern and that I'm aware of some Moroccan sellers making almost perfect replicas of teeths and claws. We are both geologist and do our best to discern between real fossils and fakes. However, I understand that we can sometimes fail and sell a fake by mistake. In this cases, if the buyer notices and he/she let us know, we offer a refund policy where we return him/her all the money and pay for the shipping costs.

That's all, I wanted to state this and say that I'm not ashamed If we ever sold a fake (no customer complained, we've only returned things when they were disappointed because of fossils being fixed/restored), as we've never did it on purpose.

Regards