Fake mosasaur and trilobite?

[thelivingdead531]

After looking through other posts and seeing similar fossils I'm starting to think I bought a fake mosasaur fossil. The tooth may be real, but I'm not sure about the fish jaw, vertebrae, and supposed enchodus tooth on the back side. I'm fairly certain the matrix is fake.

Now that I'm certain the mosasaur section isn't genuine, I'm wondering if the trilobite is fake as well, but that one is harder for me. I was told it came from the Atlas mountains. If anyone can help me out I would appreciate it.

Pictures are of the top and bottom of each one.

[thelivingdead531]

The trilobite.

[Fossildude19]

The trilobite is real, but poorly preserved (as many of these are) - looks to be a Flexicalymene ouzregui.

These are numerous enough that fakes aren't worthwhile to make. Sometimes a head will be attached to a different body, but that is fairly standard practice for these.
Yours just looks poorly preserved, and the head broken.

The mosasaur tooth crown looks real, but may be beat up on the other side.

The fish bones and enchodus tooth are likely real, as well, but all artfully cobbled together in the fake matrix.

Keep it away from the water, if you wish to keep them all in one piece.

Regards,

[thelivingdead531]

Thank you! I'm ok with the trilobite being in not so great condition as it only cost me £3 lol.

That was my fear about the mosasaur piece after seeing so many similar ones on here and doing some research. Luckily that one was only £9.50 so it's not a devastating blow to my pocketbook. Now I am a little more knowledgeable and will keep a better eye out for things like this!

[LordTrilobite]

That mosasaur piece looks completely real. Tooth is real, no reason to fake it, same with the bones. Pieces like that are really common. The matrix itself also looks fine. Plenty of colour variation and other junk in there. Fake matrix generally looks cleaner. No real red flags here.

The only thing that's weird on that thing is that hole on the back side.

[thelivingdead531]

I'm still a little skeptical of the matrix, but since I'm new to this I don't have enough knowledge to say either way. As far as the hole in the back, I have no idea about that. Maybe it was created for mounting in the past?

[Troodon]

Tooth is very real has others said. The fish vertebrae and other bone would be to fragile to assemble into the matrix block. However the tooth with additional matrix may have been to the fish block.

[Runner64]

I agree with the others. You mainly have to be careful of mosasaur jaws and very expensive trilobites because these are, unfortunately, commonly fabricated. Plus maybe try going through the matrix your mosasaur tooth is in. Looks like you'll find plenty of bones and other neat fossils!

[LordTrilobite]

I'm still a little skeptical of the matrix, but since I'm new to this I don't have enough knowledge to say either way. As far as the hole in the back, I have no idea about that. Maybe it was created for mounting in the past?

Nah, that type of matrix is too soft for mounting.

The matrix is real. And like Troodon said, the fish bones are too fragile to properly mount into a new piece of matrix. If anything the tooth might be added to the piece. but I don't see any suspicious colouration around it, so I reckon it's completely real with no tampering. There's really no reason to think something fishy is going on. Sorry for the pun

[thelivingdead531]

Thank you everyone! That makes me feel a lot better about my purchase!