Flea Market find- Real?

[Mjsimet]

Hi Everyone,

 

Somewhat new to fossil collecting. I picked this up for 20$ at a flea market, sold to me by a very old man who didn't know anything about it. Is it real? Any help appreciated.  

[Mjsimet]

More pictures. 

[Fossildude19]

Yes, it is a real trilobite. 

Flexicalymene ouzregui, from Morocco, ... I believe.

Regards,

[Mjsimet]

Thanks! Good to know.

 

[sseth]

Great find.  FossilDude19 is correct on the ID.

[Jeffrey P]

Looks exactly like one I bought in Morocco over twenty years ago except yours is in a concretion and you have the negative. Twenty bucks saved you a several thousand mile trip.

[-Andy-]

It's real, and it even has a positive/negative!

 

Good buy.

[ynot]

Sweet aquisition!!

Tony

[Wrangellian]

Nice considering most of the examples you find are loose and often Frankensteined from 2 or 3 different pieces (usually a different head and body that did not belong together)

[fossiling]

Flexicalymene is very common and faking usually does not make any money, so fakers don't bother.

[Fossildude19]

2 minutes ago, fossiling said:

Flexicalymene is very common and faking usually does not make any money, so fakers don't bother.

 

However, they often make composite trilobites - head from one and body of another, to make complete ones.  
Something to keep in mind.  

Regards,

[taj]

Fossiling is right there , it is so common in Morocco nobody even bother to fake them . A little bit of glue over there and there is usual , though ... "chouai cola!!"If I find some time , I might find back the pics of Jebel Tiskaouine where thse critters are mined .

[taj]

Here they are , pics of the outcrop and the ferocious fossil hunters ( and our guide ) .

[fossisle]

Nice photos Taj

[Wrangellian]

Tim is right. In this thread is posted an example of one obviously cobbled together from two parts:

Here is another (first pic at very top):

And here is the thread where I found out the ugly truth!: 

(Scroll down a bit to Kosmoceras' post)

[taj]

wow ! didn't see this topic before . You're right , they seem to have created some chimera . Surprising ,because these are really dirt cheap . However ,the shale is very brittle and it is not easy to find a complete one ( although I managed to get a few of them out of the outcrop ) . I thought they only took the pain to glue back the parts together ( you can see the leader of the locals in the process of doing it , he's keeling right next to his "cola" box. 

[Wrangellian]

It's easy enough to reassemble parts that belong together, but it's probably almost as easy to assemble parts that don't belong together (and tempting, if there is an abundance of such parts to rummage through and choose the parts that are close matches). It doesn't look like they put much care into it when they do this - just slather on some mortar and join them together, and disguise it a little..?