Carcharodontosaurus Repair And Restoration

[magicalmrmerlin]

I am an amateur collector with a couple of small but decent Carcharodontosaurus tooth specimens on my shelf. A 3-4inch high grade specimen would be a nice addition. On the other hand one that is not broken or been tampered with in some way with is out of my price range.

]With this in mind I recently decided to compromise and go for a repaired tooth. Now, many of us are aware of the cut and shut jobs that are constantly flying out of Morocco. Believe me I have seen quite a few horrendous composites over the past few weeks. In the end I did find one that is fairly obviously one tooth (!) and reasonably well presented .

The repair/ restoration on the tooth is actually a pretty good job and hard to see unless very close. When one does examine it you can see how the repair progresses in straight lines across the tooth and a small amount of filler -probably glue has been used to cover the imperfect areas. Does anyone know what the dealers use for these repairs/restorations? I presume its some sort of putty. The real initial concern was some red colouring that had been used to stain the surface, and presumably make the breaks less obvious. That sort of thing doesn't appeal to be so I applied a little acetone, which removed much of it. The tooth looks better for having done so in many ways.

One thing I have found hard to identify is whether or not any enamel has been moved/stuck on to cover the breaks. In the end I decided that the tooth looks good enough regardless whether it has or not. My feeling is a small amount of enamel has been glued on from the broken areas whereas largerareas have obviously not been tampered with so I am fairly satisfied. The outer serrations are well formed and uniform all around the tooth including the tip, so I doubt that any of the outer edges have been tampered with. I am not a massive expert on this but I have done my best using a magnifier.

Perhaps the main question I have here is about ethics. With so many blatant composites being sold as large teeth and glossed over repairs being aimed at the completely unsuspecting customer(not just the slightly unsuspecting - the like of me). Should collectors be investing in these items at all? Perhaps it is fuelling a market of fakes? Having thought about it over the last couple of days I am undecided.

In the very bad photo below you may be able to see some of the areas I have been talking about. I have used a UV type light here. Some of the distinction between these glued areas and the rest of the tooth can be seen along the fracture lines. Its an appalling photo, apologies but my normal camera is broken so I had to use a webcam. Opinions on it are welcome.

[Troodon]

It's a common problem on all material coming out of Morocco? They have factories that fabricate/augment fossils. Yes it's unethical unless it's sold has repaired/restored. Many people get taken and we see lots examples of it here in the forum. Not much that can be done other than making collectors aware that this exist and educate them. Inexperienced collectors should not be buying Moroccan material without some guidance from people in the know. Sorry but I cannot see much with your photo. If you can get a better image I'm sure there will be lots of input.

Significantly restored dinosaur teeth are a poor investment but may be the only way a collector my obtain a specimen. Some repair may be acceptable just depends on whats been done.

Edit: why this forum "Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications" was set up.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Troodon

[magicalmrmerlin]

As requested.

The serrations are complete and match up around the edges of the tooth, except for the very tip of it. The example I have given here is one of the broken sections of the tooth . Along the break lines it appears the tooth appears to have been filled and covered with a material which closely resembles the tooth itself in colour.

[magicalmrmerlin]

This photo is better and shows (what i believe to be) the most repaired area.

[magicalmrmerlin]

For comparison here is a smaller one I have had for a long time. The only repair or restoration seems to be a small amount of sand glued to a small part base where a corner section of the enamel has come away.

Where the enamel is not present at the tip and centre of this tooth (see picture) there is a distinctive pattern. It strikes me as a being a bit like the honeycomb pattern found on a lot of bones. I have taken that to be indicative of a genuine tooth. It seems very different to the bubbles sometimes seen in resin and the like. Opinions welcome.

[LordTrilobite]

This photo is better and shows (what i believe to be) the most repaired area.

From what I can see on this picture. It looks like it's been broken and then repaired. I don't see any wierd shapes that should be there. So I think the tip belongs on the tooth. Maybe there is some filler in between. But it mostly looks like repair instead of restoration to me.

[Troodon]

Thanks for the better pictures. Agree completly with LordTrilobite. Looks good, normal crack fill repair, normal hydration cracks. Enjoy.

[magicalmrmerlin]

Thanks all

Any idea about my question to do with the smaller tooth?

On the larger one there are some very small areas near the filler and in some of the gaps which are white. Is this likely to be residue of the glue used to stick the filler?

Sorry to bombard you with questions.

[Troodon]

I personally would not do anything as far as repair of the smaller tooth. You can fill the hydration cracks if they bother you.

On your other question cannot see the white in the photos, can be matrix/fill residue then poorly painted. They did not do a great job with the repair.

[LordTrilobite]

I wouldn't really tamper with the smaller tooth. It looks pretty nice as it. You could try to stabilize the tooth with some liquid glue so that could fill in the gaps. And on the outside the tooth enamel is generally pretty strong. On most teeth, I gently scrape matrix and dirt off of the enamel with dentist tools under a microscope. when done carefully it won't leave and scratches or damage and leave the tooth quite clean.