Nerdy Posted August 2, 2016 Share Posted August 2, 2016 Hi guys, I just discovered your forum and I'm trying to figure out how to distinguish real claws from fake ones. Here is an interesting example that I found on a marketplace. It's advertised as a Spino hand claw. Could you guys tell me what you think about it? Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigHyatt Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 Welcome from Texas, USA. For fossil expertise, you came to the right place. An expert will be along shortly. ;-) Info: Craig Hyatt, retired software/electrical engineer Experience: Beginner, fossil hunting less than a year Location: Eagle Pass, TX USA on the border with Mexico, hot dry desert Formation: Escondido, Marine, Upper Cretaceous Materials: Sandstone, Mudstone, Shale, Chert, Chalk Typical: Thalassinoides, Sphenodiscus, Exogyra, Inoceramus Reference: http://txfossils.com/Txfossils.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 Frankenclaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigHyatt Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 (edited) FrankenclawFrankenclaw = fake fossil claw made by gluing random parts together.(The monster Frankenstein was made by sewing parts of different people together.) Edited August 3, 2016 by CraigHyatt 1 Info: Craig Hyatt, retired software/electrical engineer Experience: Beginner, fossil hunting less than a year Location: Eagle Pass, TX USA on the border with Mexico, hot dry desert Formation: Escondido, Marine, Upper Cretaceous Materials: Sandstone, Mudstone, Shale, Chert, Chalk Typical: Thalassinoides, Sphenodiscus, Exogyra, Inoceramus Reference: http://txfossils.com/Txfossils.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan from PA Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 This claw looks to me like it either has been fabricated from pieces of bone, or it is very poorly repaired using the famous Moroccan method of mixing matrix with glue. It is also covered with matrix, which raises a red flag. I would wait for a better specimen to come along. Here are pics from the Spinosaurid manus claw from my collection. Member named Troodon will be along shortly to give a better answer than the one I can provide. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 Hey hi Nerdy, Welcome to TFF. Just in case You did not understand the above post, it is a fake. Others with more experience with this type of thing should be along shortly. Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigHyatt Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 (edited) This claw looks to me like it either has been fabricated from pieces of bone, or it is very poorly repaired using the famous Moroccan method of mixing matrix with glue. It is also covered with matrix, which raises a red flag. I would wait for a better specimen to come along. Here are pics from the Spinosaurid manus claw from my collection.image.jpeg image.jpeg Member named Troodon will be along shortly to give a better answer than the one I can provide. I know zip about claws, but I can see a big difference between the questioned claw and your photos.In the questioned claw, the surface features don't follow a continuous curve from end to end. The surface features point in different directions or are smoothed out in places. Other issues appear to my untrained eye, but the lack of a smooth flow in surface texture is what stands out. In the questioned claw, these lines are interrupted by areas with a different flow or areas that are smooth In the known claw, continuous texture end to end Edited August 3, 2016 by CraigHyatt 3 Info: Craig Hyatt, retired software/electrical engineer Experience: Beginner, fossil hunting less than a year Location: Eagle Pass, TX USA on the border with Mexico, hot dry desert Formation: Escondido, Marine, Upper Cretaceous Materials: Sandstone, Mudstone, Shale, Chert, Chalk Typical: Thalassinoides, Sphenodiscus, Exogyra, Inoceramus Reference: http://txfossils.com/Txfossils.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 (edited) Hello Nerdy, welcome to the forum. Do you happen to have any additional pictures. Edit: I'm leaning toward the claw being real but would like to see more to confirm it Edited August 3, 2016 by Troodon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runner64 Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 If it's real, it's heavily restored. Especially from the side in the first picture. I agree with Troodon, try getting some clearer pictures and closer ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerdy Posted August 3, 2016 Author Share Posted August 3, 2016 Hi guys, Thank YOU SO MUCH from your answers. I'm learning a lot by reading your comments. I actually have some additional pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 (edited) I might just be partially real. But it definitely looks contructed from different pieces. Maybe some of those pieces are from an actual claw. Edited August 3, 2016 by LordTrilobite Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 Thank you for the additional photos. Ideally for this type of specimen, especially being from Morocco, I would like to hold it and examine it closely but I think your photos are adequate. I do not see any evidence of a complete fabrication which is very common on these type of claws. I also do not see any signs that this is assembled from multiple claws. The blood groove is good on both sides has well as the lower half of the claw and most important the bottom half of tip is good. What you have is a real claw in which the back and top half a is not in the best state of preservation. In typical Morocco fashion they have crudely tried to repair loose pieces with their matrix/glue combo. There is probably some restoration on the top half of the tip and a little on the proximal(back) end. Hard to tell on the top side if they just tried to reattach loose pieces or used fragments from others. I think the former. Hope that helps 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 (edited) Let me add that I don't think we can assign this morphology of claw to Spinosaurus any longer. Scientific evidence has shown the existence of at least one more Spinosaurid in the Kem Kem: Sigilmassasaurus brevicollis. So better identified has Spinosaurid indet. http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/59207-the-case-for-jmore-than-one-spinosaurid-in-the-kem-kem-mounts/ Edit: you can see with all of the different opinions why it's so difficult to figure out what has been done to this claw. Sometimes I wonder if they would be better off just selling it as is and letting the collector do the repair. Edited August 3, 2016 by Troodon 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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