Beware of dinosaur skin material

[-Andy-]

Dinosaur skin are a highly sought-after fossil. The ones usually available to collectors are Edmontosaurus skin impressions from Lance, or Hell Creek Formation, and they aren't as rare or expensive as you might expect, fetching up to 100-200 USD per inch depending on quality.

 

However, it is easy to mistake a bumpy piece of rock, mud sediment, septarian nodule, concretions, or a coral fossil as dino skin. Right now there are at least several of such on our favorite auction site.

 

Here are examples of fossils/pseudofossils mistaken as dinosaur skin:

 

  

 

And here are real Edmontosaurus skin impressions:

 

Positives:
  

 

Negatives:

  

So how do we tell real skin impressions from misidentified ones? Honestly, it isn't always easy, but here are four basic guidelines.

1) Skin impressions come as negatives or positives. If it comes with both, even better!

2) Skin impressions are rarely ever a complete piece by themselves(not the way a tooth or an ammonite is). Instead, skin impressions are often fragments, or look like they are broken off from larger chunks

3) There should be a uniform shape to each individual scale/osteoderm. Refer to the negative pictures above

4) Most skin impressions come from South Dakota. If you get another locality, be on extra alert - it's either another species(and thus very expensive), or misidentified

If in doubt, ask the forum before purchasing. There are plenty of experts here glad to help. Have fun shopping!

 

 

[Ash]

Good post, Andy

[LordTrilobite]

What Ash said. Good informative post. Very useful for those looking to get a piece of dinosaur skin.

[HamptonsDoc]

Thanks for the info Andy!

[RJB]

   Im not interested in any dino skin, but I found this very interesting.   Thanks

 

RB

[JohnJ]

Good information, Andy. 

 

Having recognized one of my finds/photos, I'll offer a slight correction, in that this find was never mistaken as dino skin.  However, I have used it many times to illustrate the bizarre characteristics of pseudo-fossils.   

[Max-fossils]

Great post! Very informative!

I think this one should be pinned in the Fossil Fabrications thread, it would have a great place there!

 

Thanks for making this!

 

Best regards,

 

Max

[jpc]

good post Andy.  Indeed, hadrosaur skin is the best known and most common, but other skins are known and do look quite different.  I do not watch the markets so I don't know if they ever find their way into the market, but they look nothing like the pseudofossils Andy shows in the original post. 

[Flynn]

Those are beautiful. Thanx a bunch.