Carcharodontosaurus? Spinosauras? Real?

[Blexter]

This is my first post ... patience please.

I collect amber with insects under normal circumstances.

 

I have inherited a box of different fossil teeth from a relative.  I am told the pieces are from Morocco he brought back in the early 70's.  The more I read and research online, the more I hear "fake Moroccan fossils".  I have no idea but would like to confirm either way.  I have followed several threads on this site researching this.

If these are real, how is quality determined? Do I need to clean them up or will I damage them?  I find a tremendous range in pricing online.  I collect amber and know how to value quality but this is a different thing to me.  I assume I need to get past the "fake" issue first.  I can see what I think is repair (maybe glue or epoxy) on some of the teeth from being broken but not sure. There are quite a few pieces.

Any help would be appreciated

thanks

B 

 

[Troodon]

All of your teeth appear to be real.   They are most likely from the Kem Kem beds of Morocco.   Two family of teeth are represented Spinosaurids (bottom) and Carcharodontosaurids (top).  Value on these teeth vary greatly depending on the quality of preservation, including serrations and enamel,  these are not the best.  I would not do anything to the teeth other than removing excess matrix.   Moroccan use matrix and glue to hide imperfections.  One of your Carch teeth may be composited and more photos can determine that but there is not much you can do to fix it.  Would need to see individual pictures of your spino teeth to determine what's been done to them, most look okay  

[Blexter]

Thank you for the quick reply.  

Could you define "composited" for me please.

I understand it to be pieces added?

[Troodon]

Composite, for your situation, is where multiple teeth are used to make one or pieces one tooth are used to repair another.  The latter may be the case with your Carch tooth but would need better pictures of both sides

[Aurelius]

Were Kem Kem fossils widely known about in the 1970s?  Regardless, these are a great little collection, even if they aren't worth a huge amount.

[Troodon]

 

27 minutes ago, Aurelius said:

Were Kem Kem fossils widely known about in the 1970s?  Regardless, these are a great little collection, even if they aren't worth a huge amount.

 

No, the internet did not exist and I'm suspicious of that date anyway but it does not change the answer.   Who knows how long local Moroccan have been fixing teeth.

[Blexter]

Kem Kem or not, all I know is that as a gift, I cannot sell them.  Their value is just a curiosity to me.  My relative worked in Morocco (and many other countries) and brought home  well over 100 fossils from there alone.  He retired in the 90's.  As conversation pieces, they are just fine.  I am simply researching and wanted to know "real" or not..... still interesting to me.  

  

I also have petrified pine cones from Argentina, cave bear teeth from Eastern Europe etc. etc ......  quite a few items......  besides, that side of the family probably doesn't like me enough to give me something worth very much. 

I appreciate the help and information.  I will post more as I research them

thank you

B

[Troodon]

All that material is great.  I don't think cannot export those cones from Argentina any more so that's cool.  Nice family collection and a good rememberence. Nice collection 

[Aurelius]

They are certainly from Kem Kem, the only question is when he obtained them. I'd be surprised if it was the 70s.

[Troodon]

On 5/14/2017 at 6:56 PM, Aurelius said:

They are certainly from Kem Kem, the only question is when he obtained them. I'd be surprised if it was the 70s.

 

While I agree with you that they are most likely from the Kem Kem, material from other localities North Africa especially Algeria is very similiar in preservation.

[LordTrilobite]

The Kem Kem beds region extends into Algeria. It's likely fairly safe to say they are from the Kem Kem beds. But it could be from either Morocco or Algeria.

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

It is historically known that the mountain Aoufous Formation (Late Cretaceous) was first reported by Dubar In the distant year of 1948. Although there was no internet in 1970, there were already workers with shovels and picks, willing to do everything to sell the best "prehistoric gifts" to tourists who could pay better". Here in Argentina is it prohibited to sell fossils? Yes, it is! But this does not prevent tons per year of dinosaur eggs, pine cones and egg shells of dinosaur from supplying the international market.  So I would not be surprised if this collection was from the 70's. But I really agree that some teeth look like compounds, this phenomenon that gained a lot of intensity from 1999.

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

Excavation conducted by René Lavocat (sitting on the ground) at Gara Sbâa (Morocco) in 1950.