Add Mexican Fossils to Your AVOID List...

[Fossildude19]

Came across these ridiculous fakes this morning.

Disturbing how many people are bidding on them.

"Mammal Fossil"

"Chimera fish fossil"

"Butterfly fossil"

"Dragonfly Fossil"

"Scorpion fossil" on the same slab as "dragonfly"

and "fish fossil" on the backside of same slab...

Continued...

[Fossildude19]

...Continued...

"Seahorse fossil"

and last but not least,... the "Baby Pterodactyl fossil"

All of these are fakes,... some slightly more skillful than others.

They are little more than engravings on the rock, with ink applied for color difference.

Some aren't even well done.

I will be reporting these. Feel free to join me....

Buyer - beware.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Fossildude19

[Slowpoker]

That's hilarious!

[Laboratary FODERE]

I contacted the seller...

[Oxytropidoceras]

Might this might be a new form of folk art for art collectors? :-)

Edited February 4, 2016 by Oxytropidoceras

[fossilized6s]

Bwahahahaha!!!! Those are like a child's finger painting. At least the Chinese and Moroccans "try" and put in real effort to steal our money. This is just insulting.

[gobi]

The fakes are becoming more and more realistic. Probably by using 3d printing technics on real matrix ??

[oilshale]

These items have been offered before in ebay by someone else - this guy here bought all the stuff (20 "fossils" or so) from the first seller and now tries to resell everything.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/58918-a-new-technique-from-a-new-area/

Thomas

Edited February 4, 2016 by oilshale

[Fossildude19]

These items have been offered before in ebay by someone else - this guy here bought all the stuff (20 "fossils" or so) from the first seller and now tries to resell everything.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/58918-a-new-technique-from-a-new-area/

Thomas

Thanks for reminding me of that one, Thomas.

I hadn't kept up with it after I made my comment to that thread - I see now you had posted the same seller.

It is disheartening that these may actually sell for the prices they are at or above.

Regards,

[RJB]

I don't belive that these 'guys' are going to stop. Buyer beware.

RB

[paleoflor]

Thanks for the warning. Luckily, it's quite easy to see that something is iffy with these.

On a side note: while forgery like this is not done, of course, I must admit that I'm strangely happy to see some plant material being faked for a change (even though only done together with a "butterfly" on the same slab). Clearly, some fossil types are more popular to forge than others. In my experience, plant material is rarely faked, as if these fossils are inferior in some way and not worthwhile faking. The "worst" I've seen before is real cones reconnected to real branches (which is not OK, of course, because the connection is fake).

[-Andy-]

It's still ongoing, now under a new name.

Search for Boomerang amphibian

[Fossildude19]

It's still ongoing, now under a new name.

Search for Boomerang amphibian

Well I reported all that he was selling.

2 items have been removed - the amphibian and the scorpion.

Now waiting to see if the "hummingbird"

and "rare double seahorse" fossils will be removed.

Regards,

BTW - there is another guy selling a "Hummingbird head fossil", that is most likely a horn coral or some similar looking shell fossil - photos are too blurry to make out, but when I asked him about how he knew it was a "Hummingbird head fossil", he stated " Because it looks like one.", and claimed it would be too expensive to have it looked at by a paleontologist.

Riiiiigggghhhhhttt.

BUYER BEWARE!

Edited February 22, 2016 by Fossildude19

[Auspex]

...I reported all that he was selling.

2 items have been removed ...

This is progress! Well done

[amour 25]

Well I reported all that he was selling.

2 items have been removed - the amphibian and the scorpion.

Now waiting to see if the "hummingbird"

HB.jpg

and "rare double seahorse" fossils will be removed.

SH.jpg

Regards,

BTW - there is another guy selling a "Hummingbird head fossil", that is most likely a horn coral or some similar looking shell fossil - photos are too blurry to make out, but when I asked him about how he knew it was a "Hummingbird head fossil", he stated " Because it looks like one.", and claimed it would be too expensive to have it looked at by a paleontologist.

s-l1600.jpg

Riiiiigggghhhhhttt.

BUYER BEWARE!

Dang that Hummingbird would of looked killer by the fireplace.

Oh well.

Guess the quest goes on.

[-Andy-]

To confirm, I should be reporting it as:

Listing Practices > Fraudulent Listing Activities > You suspect a listing is fradulent

Correct?

Reported both the Hummingbird and sea horse, hope more of us could "chip in" and save some poor souls their hard-earned money.

[PaleoRon]

I have reported many fakes to the people running that auction site. Very little was done about it. Unfortunately they are more interested in making money from the victims of fraud instead of protecting the buyers.

[Fossildude19]

To confirm, I should be reporting it as:

Listing Practices > Fraudulent Listing Activities > You suspect a listing is fradulent

Correct?

Reported both the Hummingbird and sea horse, hope more of us could "chip in" and save some poor souls their hard-earned money.

That's what I did.

Regards,

[Troodon]

Ditto

[oilshale]

Same for me

Thomas

[-Andy-]

What is most likely his facebook account has been located. I'm shocked to see just how many friends he has who are part of the active fossil-collecting FB community.

[Fossildude19]

He has posted another fish that is just carved into the rock.

Unreal.

[sseth]

He has posted another fish that is just carved into the rock.

s-l1600.jpg

Unreal.

That seems like a lot more work than just finding a real fossil fish.

[Troodon]

Update:

Hummingbird sold

Seahorses removed

[Fossildude19]

Looks like the fish is gone, but the Bat and the Bird are getting bids still.

Edited February 24, 2016 by Fossildude19