Is This A Real Asaphus Kowalewskii Trilobite?

[IonRocks]

Is this a genuine Asaphus Kowalewskii trilobite from St Petersburg, Russia? Personally I see no indication of trickery, and it has a repaired crack on the eye stalk, which supports my theory (because generally fakes either look perfect, or in really poor condition)

[Raggedy Man]

Yep, sure looks like it!

Best regards,

Paul

[LordTrilobite]

Looks real to me.

[Olenoides]

Yes, it's a real one. Though, nearly all of the Asaphus have some degree of shell restoration. Unless they were down in a perfect cross section the shell on them tends to flake pretty easily during collection. You can see cracks in the shell running down the thorax from this. They use a resin to do the restoration that perfectly matches the shell color and texture but it's fluoresces under UV light pretty well. I'd make bets you'd find at least 5-10% of so shell restoration on that one under UV based on the amount of fracturing in the shell.

It's the higher end specimens like Hoplolichus where you see a lot more shenanigans. The restoration on those tends to be done using composites from other specimens, and often using other materials which don't fluoresce as easily. One thing to watch out for on Hoplolichus is the eyes. Hoplolichus does not have Schizochroal eyes, but I'd say 80% of the specimens I've seen appear to have them, because they stamp them into the resin to make them look cooler.

[IonRocks]

O have been told there is zero restoration on it. What is generally a fair price for an Asaphus kowalewskii?

[ReeseF]

O have been told there is zero restoration on it. What is generally a fair price for an Asaphus kowalewskii?

Prices range a lot based on size, restoration, and position, but a fair price is whatever price you're happy at .

Appraisals can be hard to do through pictures, unfortunately.

[Redlichia]

Hi,

Yes I quote all of Olenoides, under the UV light you can see if there are parts with resin because the color change if is the resin, but from ebay is difficult to see........But....sometime there are trilobites from Russia that are perfect but totally fake in yellow/orange resin that you can't see under the UV light because this "professional and maybe expensive" resin is not fluorescent and these specimens are also many expensive.....

A my big doubt that I have from many years is for the Carboniferous "new yellow" Phillipsidae from Russia.....these are real? And why there aren't the veins/cracks of the calcite on the trilobtes but are always perfect? Someone know better this type of trilobite many expensive?

Thanks!

Yes, it's a real one. Though, nearly all of the Asaphus have some degree of shell restoration. Unless they were down in a perfect cross section the shell on them tends to flake pretty easily during collection. You can see cracks in the shell running down the thorax from this. They use a resin to do the restoration that perfectly matches the shell color and texture but it's fluoresces under UV light pretty well. I'd make bets you'd find at least 5-10% of so shell restoration on that one under UV based on the amount of fracturing in the shell.

It's the higher end specimens like Hoplolichus where you see a lot more shenanigans. The restoration on those tends to be done using composites from other specimens, and often using other materials which don't fluoresce as easily. One thing to watch out for on Hoplolichus is the eyes. Hoplolichus does not have Schizochroal eyes, but I'd say 80% of the specimens I've seen appear to have them, because they stamp them into the resin to make them look cooler.

[IonRocks]

Well I did look at it under a UV light, and there is one tiny dot of fluorescence, plus the repair on the eye stalk (which is visible without UV) the dot as far as I can tell, appears to have actually been used to fix the very edge of the trilobite, where it comes over the matrix just a little.