Mosausaur and Ichthyosaur Fossils

[waughgavin]

Hello all,

I am new to the forum, and only recently have returned to fossil collecting, I used to collect when I was much younger. I am looking into purchasing some impressive fossils to jump-start my collection, and have found a mosasaur jaw and some vertebrae. I have seen some of the Moroccan fakes, but I would still like some consensus before I make any commitments. I would also like to know if anyone has any sort of recommendations for purchasing ichthyosaur fossils.

Here are some photos:

[-Andy-]

Both items you showed are real. I see no clear signs of tempering or composition beyond the teeth that might be from 2 different species. Try getting higher resolution photos.

For Jurassic ichthyosaurs, you could try fossil shops or sellers from the UK; you can get verts, bones, sometimes even paddles and jaws. If it's isolated Cretaceous teeth you're after, try Russian sellers with access to Stary-Oskal fossils. If you have the budget in the 5 or 6 digits, you can get partial to whole ichthyosaurs from Solnhofen.

[Mike Pocock]

Hi Re the UK fossil sellers try Byron Blessed at Natural wonders in Whitby North Yorkshire UK he sell a lot of different items and is very helpful. You can have a look at what he has on the web site, just Google it.

Regards

Mike

[joel77520]

The first 2 photos of the mosasaur jaw is mines. I purchased it awhile ago.

[waughgavin]

The first 2 photos of the mosasaur jaw is mines. I purchased it awhile ago.

Oh! I see that now, the other fossils showed sold under the description, but this one didn't.

[waughgavin]

Hi Re the UK fossil sellers try Byron Blessed at Natural wonders in Whitby North Yorkshire UK he sell a lot of different items and is very helpful. You can have a look at what he has on the web site, just Google it.

Regards

Mike

I have looked at Bryon's items for sell and found these fossis:

Do you think these would be worthwhile?

Edited April 6, 2016 by waughgavin

[Troodon]

I have looked at Bryon's items for sell and found these fossis:

Ichthyosaur Jaw.jpg

Ichthyosaur Vertebrae.jpg

Do you think these would be worthwhile?

The vertebra are very nice hard to tell about the jaw from that photo. But I think you should make that call based on your interest and what you can afford. We can provide you guidance on ID and authenticity. Edited April 6, 2016 by Troodon

[LordTrilobite]

This jaw looks suspect to me.

The fragments at the bottom look like composition.

Definitely looks off. I'd skip that one

Hello all,

I am new to the forum, and only recently have returned to fossil collecting, I used to collect when I was much younger. I am looking into purchasing some impressive fossils to jump-start my collection, and have found a mosasaur jaw and some vertebrae. I have seen some of the Moroccan fakes, but I would still like some consensus before I make any commitments. I would also like to know if anyone has any sort of recommendations for purchasing ichthyosaur fossils.

Here are some photos:

Mosasaur Jaw 1.jpg

Mosasaur Jaw 2.jpeg

Mosasaur Vertebrae 1.jpg

Mosasaur Vertebrae 2.jpeg

The verts look fine. The jaw also looks good. But these photos are not clear enough to judge if the jaw has been tampered with. Without better photos I would skip this jaw as well.