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3 beautiful Megalodon Teeth Restored for RJB, one from Morrocco


mattbsharks

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Here are three gorgeous megalodon teeth that @RJB collected over the years as a fossil vendor/collector. He asked me to restore them for him, and I was happy to take on the challenge. Here are the photos of the before and after. I hope you enjoy!

 

-Matt

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Honestly .. after seeing many of your restorations .. these have to be three of your finest.  They look very convincing !

 

Cheers,

Brett

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14 hours ago, Brett Breakin' Rocks said:

Honestly .. after seeing many of your restorations .. these have to be three of your finest.  They look very convincing !

 

Cheers,

Brett

Thanks!

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  • 3 weeks later...

@mattbsharks You have done a wonderful job on the teeth pictured. What "test" would enable the critical observer to know that these teeth have been restored/partially reconstructed? That is, in the future when the teeth are no longer under your control or that of an ethical owner; how may they readily be determined, not natural? 

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

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Hey @snolly50, I do plan on selling these, but you are right, after they are sold, who is gunna say what these are and what prep work has been done to them?   Im an honest guy and will tell folks who buy them exactly what has been done, but after that?   Like they always say,, buyer beware.   Im not gunna worrie about it. 

 

RB

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Hey mattbsharks,

 

Love the restoration but do understand Snolly's concerns. You are just getting too professional in your efforts. It would be nice if companies like paleosculpt would add something to it's product that would make it readily obvious, maybe fluoresce under uv light or something. To be honest, I am in the process of restoring a very cheap and VERY BAD 5 inch meg. Your guidance has made it fairly easy to do. It is for a child ( my technician's son) who is so into prehistoric sharks. It will be a present from Santa at Christmas. Something I tried on my own was to pigment the paleosculpt with paint Before applying it to the tooth. I was able to match the tooth's color almost to the T. No painting needed!!  Yet the paleosculpt adhered just fine. Try it. You may like it. Minimally less painting will be needed and if it chips, it will not show the paleosculpt color. Eventually, I may post my results.

@mattbsharks

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@RJB I saw that these were yours and I wasn't worried that you would be deceptive, but as the pieces move around over the years, changing hands, eventually their true nature will be lost. From the photos it looks like Matt is doing a great job. I have handled dozens and dozens of Megs and from the photos I honestly think these look real and natural (which I guess is the point of restoring them).

 

My inquiry of Matt (assuming he would know, because he knows the technique and most importantly material employed) is simply; can his "improvements" be recognized by any simple means that would be available to a future owner. I can think of a few things I would do, if I were a suspicious buyer; but I was curious what the craftsman of the pieces would say.

 

I know Matt is not the only person improving megs. I do assume that the technique and materials are similar between all of the craftsmen. Thus, since the meg tooth "market" is so active with scores being offered every day (They are so common that I am amazed at the price they demand, but that's another issue) is a protocol for detecting altered specimens warranted and practical? 

 

It occurs to me, if I had the skill to produce these impressive works; I would impress a pinhead sized seal/initials into the fabricated portion on the non-display side. Thus the natural looking appearance would be little altered, but there would be testimony as to the pieces alteration. 

 

Thanks @minnbuckeye for his comments on this topic.

 

I have reread this post and my previous one and will state unambiguously - I am not impugning any ones activity, honesty or motivations. I am just speculating as to a possible future negative impact, as an increasing numbers of restored megs drift onto the market.  

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

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1 hour ago, snolly50 said:

@RJB I saw that these were yours and I wasn't worried that you would be deceptive, but as the pieces move around over the years, changing hands, eventually their true nature will be lost. From the photos it looks like Matt is doing a great job. I have handled dozens and dozens of Megs and from the photos I honestly think these look real and natural (which I guess is the point of restoring them).

 

My inquiry of Matt (assuming he would know, because he knows the technique and most importantly material employed) is simply; can his "improvements" be recognized by any simple means that would be available to a future owner. I can think of a few things I would do, if I were a suspicious buyer; but I was curious what the craftsman of the pieces would say.

 

I know Matt is not the only person improving megs. I do assume that the technique and materials are similar between all of the craftsmen. Thus, since the meg tooth "market" is so active with scores being offered every day (They are so common that I am amazed at the price they demand, but that's another issue) is a protocol for detecting altered specimens warranted and practical? 

 

It occurs to me, if I had the skill to produce these impressive works; I would impress a pinhead sized seal/initials into the fabricated portion on the non-display side. Thus the natural looking appearance would be little altered, but there would be testimony as to the pieces alteration. 

 

Thanks @minnbuckeye for his comments on this topic.

 

I have reread this post and my previous one and will state unambiguously - I am not impugning any ones activity, honesty or motivations. I am just speculating as to a possible future negative impact, as an increasing numbers of restored megs drift onto the market.  

 

1 hour ago, minnbuckeye said:

Hey mattbsharks,

 

Love the restoration but do understand Snolly's concerns. You are just getting too professional in your efforts. It would be nice if companies like paleosculpt would add something to it's product that would make it readily obvious, maybe fluoresce under uv light or something. To be honest, I am in the process of restoring a very cheap and VERY BAD 5 inch meg. Your guidance has made it fairly easy to do. It is for a child ( my technician's son) who is so into prehistoric sharks. It will be a present from Santa at Christmas. Something I tried on my own was to pigment the paleosculpt with paint Before applying it to the tooth. I was able to match the tooth's color almost to the T. No painting needed!!  Yet the paleosculpt adhered just fine. Try it. You may like it. Minimally less painting will be needed and if it chips, it will not show the paleosculpt color. Eventually, I may post my results.

@mattbsharks

 

2 hours ago, RJB said:

Hey @snolly50, I do plan on selling these, but you are right, after they are sold, who is gunna say what these are and what prep work has been done to them?   Im an honest guy and will tell folks who buy them exactly what has been done, but after that?   Like they always say,, buyer beware.   Im not gunna worrie about it. 

 

RB

Thank you guys for the compliments! I never thought I would have the problem of TOO realistic restorations. The answer is fairly straight forward. A UV light will reveal any acrylic paint used on a tooth. @minnbuckeye please post about your restoration, I'm always trying to find new techniques and am very interested. Strangely enough, I have found that you don't need a UV light to see if the tooth is restored, at least for acrylic jobs. You can go in a dark room and shine a typical flash light on the fossil. The paint should sort of glow and be a different color. I use my phone flashlight which generally works fine. I'm not sure about grout but you can always dip the tooth in acetone if you are prepared to wreck it. Acetone will not harm a fossil at all, only a restoration. 

On 11/12/2017 at 9:51 AM, coled18 said:

That’s amazing! You should try make a tooth from scratch. 

I should some time

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22 minutes ago, mattbsharks said:

Thank you guys for the compliments! I never thought I would have the problem of TOO realistic restorations. The answer is fairly straight forward. A UV light will reveal any acrylic paint used on a tooth. @minnbuckeye please post about your restoration, I'm always trying to find new techniques and am very interested. Strangely enough, I have found that you don't need a UV light to see if the tooth is restored, at least for acrylic jobs. You can go in a dark room and shine a typical flash light on the fossil. The paint should sort of glow and be a different color. I use my phone flashlight which generally works fine. I'm not sure about grout but you can always dip the tooth in acetone if you are prepared to wreck it. Acetone will not harm a fossil at all, only a restoration. 

Thanks, those are the tells I had thought of as useful. It was good to get your first hand verification. I do feel that the casual buyer would be fooled (easily); but as @RJB aptly opined, caveat emptor and a person can only be responsible for their own behavior; not the actions of an unknown person down the line. 

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

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22 hours ago, snolly50 said:

Thanks, those are the tells I had thought of as useful. It was good to get your first hand verification. I do feel that the casual buyer would be fooled (easily); but as @RJB aptly opined, caveat emptor and a person can only be responsible for their own behavior; not the actions of an unknown person down the line. 

I agree. I, and I'm sure @RJB am very careful to fully disclose repairs to the buyer. We cannot control what others do beyond that as you said

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I have been giving a lot of thought to the meg I am repairing. @snolly50, you changed my mind on trying to make it into a perfect replica. I am going to leave the back side upper corner with no detail, just a glob of putty to rough it in. This will allow anyone in the future that possesses this to know it has been tampered with. And for the child of 10 years who is receiving the tooth, he will not know the difference now anyways. So Santa wont look like a cheap skate.

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