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Marrakech Fossil Shops


HamptonsDoc

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Mrs. HamptonsDoc and I are are heading to Marrakech in a few days for some R&R and to escape this cold weather that just won't leave New York. Can anyone recommend any good fossil shops in or around the town? We're going to spend a day in both Casablanca and Essaouira too, and an excursion into the Atlas Mountains.  I wanted to take a trip to Kem-Kem but the Mrs. has a different idea of vacation than I do!

 

@Tidgy's Dad 

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I love Marrakech, though it gets a bit touristy sometimes. I don't know the names of shops anywhere, i just sort of bumble around from one to another and personally find that the little roadside stalls and the actual villages where the fossils are found near provide much cheaper specimens, though often not as well prepped. 

I rarely go to Casablanca, don't much care for it, the fossils there are usually massively overpriced and fakes abound, though most of the sellers genuinely have no idea. 

Marrakech is also generally expensive, though a bit cheaper, but it is absolutely the capital for fakes, composites and fraudsters. However, if you're prepared to really, really haggle, you can pick up some nicely prepped bargains. 

Essaouira is better, usually cheaper and fewer fakes, though they still are there in quantity. Haggling here can produce excellent results. Remember you will look like a tourist and if they figure you are from the States, the price will be higher than that offered to Europeans, though maybe less than they try on for the Japanese.Wear rubbish shoes when shopping. 

Do you know which area of the Atlas you will be visiting? There are three separate ranges, the Middle Atlas, on which I border, then much further south the High Atlas, and on the edge of the Sahara it's the Anti Atlas. From Essouira, you'll probably be heading to the Anti Atlas, from Marrakech that or more likely the High Atlas, in the mountains themselves, i find roadside stalls offer cheap local fossils and the people can sometimes point you in the direction of a fossil locality, search the rocks at the sides of the roads, you may get lucky. 

Almost everywhere will have some fakes or composites, be friendly though mildly outraged, be touchy feely, smile a lot, profess to being poor and haggle haggle haggle.

Sometimes it pays to pretend to be a complete novice, other times claim to be an expert, don't be afraid to tell them the fossils are fakes, broken , bad quality (even if they're not, it's all part of the game) . 

Oh, and haggle.  

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Do you know Adam of Sahara Overland he sells at the Tucson show in the ballroom and outside tents.  He's in FB and might be able to help you.  He did fossil tours but might know how to direct you.  

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I very much enjoyed my trip to the interior Khouribka Basin of Morocco.  I drove south from Spanish Ceuta after taking a ferry from Spain.  Never got to Fez or any of the Atlantic coast cities.  Erfoud was a friendly place with lots of fossil prep workshops.

 

 

erfoudstreet.jpg

erfouddoor.jpg

erfoudbugs.jpg

http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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4 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I love Marrakech, though it gets a bit touristy sometimes. I don't know the names of shops anywhere, i just sort of bumble around from one to another and personally find that the little roadside stalls and the actual villages where the fossils are found near provide much cheaper specimens, though often not as well prepped. 

I rarely go to Casablanca, don't much care for it, the fossils there are usually massively overpriced and fakes abound, though most of the sellers genuinely have no idea. 

Marrakech is also generally expensive, though a bit cheaper, but it is absolutely the capital for fakes, composites and fraudsters. However, if you're prepared to really, really haggle, you can pick up some nicely prepped bargains. 

Essaouira is better, usually cheaper and fewer fakes, though they still are there in quantity. Haggling here can produce excellent results. Remember you will look like a tourist and if they figure you are from the States, the price will be higher than that offered to Europeans, though maybe less than they try on for the Japanese.Wear rubbish shoes when shopping. 

Do you know which area of the Atlas you will be visiting? There are three separate ranges, the Middle Atlas, on which I border, then much further south the High Atlas, and on the edge of the Sahara it's the Anti Atlas. From Essouira, you'll probably be heading to the Anti Atlas, from Marrakech that or more likely the High Atlas, in the mountains themselves, i find roadside stalls offer cheap local fossils and the people can sometimes point you in the direction of a fossil locality, search the rocks at the sides of the roads, you may get lucky. 

Almost everywhere will have some fakes or composites, be friendly though mildly outraged, be touchy feely, smile a lot, profess to being poor and haggle haggle haggle.

Sometimes it pays to pretend to be a complete novice, other times claim to be an expert, don't be afraid to tell them the fossils are fakes, broken , bad quality (even if they're not, it's all part of the game) . 

Oh, and haggle.  

Thank you so much for the advise! Not sure where in the Atlas we are heading but will keep a look out while there.  Can't wait to start haggling- hopefully my practice in Tucson pays off!

 

3 hours ago, Troodon said:

Do you know Adam of Sahara Overland he sells at the Tucson show in the ballroom and outside tents.  He's in FB and might be able to help you.  He did fossil tours but might know how to direct you.  

I actually email Aissa a few weeks ago, seems like they're going to be away when I'm there.

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I'm heading to Marrakech, Essaouria, and Tiniher at the end of May for a week. Not planning to do any collecting, but I will likely browse some of the fossil shops. May pick up a few cephalopods (goniatites and ammonites), but mostly we're there to enjoy the scenery and culture. I was there 24 years ago. Fossils were being sold back then, but were much more limited- no vertebrate fossils or fancy trilobites. I picked up a few fossils on that trip and most of those ended up being given away as gifts. Spent a week trekking through the Atlas Mountains and also some time in the Sahara. Unfortunately not enough time this time to do as much.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Back from my trip- Morocco is a beautiful country and I definitely recommend visiting!

 

I spent most of my time in Marrakech and in the High Atlas Mountains.  I saw many fossils for sale- mostly ammonites and trilobites as this is the area where they are found. Many shops had them mixed in with other goods for sales and there were very few shops that sold only fossils and minerals that I was able to find. Unfortunately I did not find any Dinosaur material for sale at all- I was quite a distance from Kem-Kem and most shop keepers and tour guides weren't familiar with the material I was asking for.  In the souk of Marrakech there were a few dealers who were fossil and mineral only any one had some nice Mosasaur material.  I was very excited to see an unprepared upper jaw, lower jaw and rear articulating bone together in matrix of what looked like a young Prognathodon for sale.  It looked authentic and not composite from what I could tell.  I saw this in my first few hours in the town while on a tour and didn't have time to stop and ask about it but two days later I found the shop again.  I was hoping to be able to get it at a good price and send it to someone I know in Rabbat who has prepped something similar for me but I almost fell over when the shop keeper told me his asking price of 3Million MAD which is about $320,000 USD!!!  I counter offered him 3000 MAD which is $320 USD and I guess he got insulted because he walked out of his shop and I never saw him again!  I'm assuming he either didn't know what he had or thought I was a rich tourist who would be willing to pay anything for the nicest specimen in his shop.  He also had a few of the typical composite mosasaur teeth stuck to plaster to look like small jaw sections and a section of globidens jaw with teeth (likely composite) that was around 18" long.  I saw a lot of fossil plates and the typical Moroccan trinkets you find at US Fossil shows.

 

My wife has already said she wants to go back to Morocco and travel around the country.  It truly is a beautiful place with lots of history and culture and the people were all very friendly!  Hopefully I'll be more successful with finding some nice Dinosaur material on the next trip.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sounds like a great trip.  Wow only $320k for an unprepped jaw.   You missed a great opportunity to pick one up.  Lesson learned for your next trip.:D

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On 4/27/2018 at 6:41 PM, HamptonsDoc said:

Back from my trip- Morocco is a beautiful country and I definitely recommend visiting!

 

I spent most of my time in Marrakech and in the High Atlas Mountains.  I saw many fossils for sale- mostly ammonites and trilobites as this is the area where they are found. Many shops had them mixed in with other goods for sales and there were very few shops that sold only fossils and minerals that I was able to find. Unfortunately I did not find any Dinosaur material for sale at all- I was quite a distance from Kem-Kem and most shop keepers and tour guides weren't familiar with the material I was asking for.  In the souk of Marrakech there were a few dealers who were fossil and mineral only any one had some nice Mosasaur material.  I was very excited to see an unprepared upper jaw, lower jaw and rear articulating bone together in matrix of what looked like a young Prognathodon for sale.  It looked authentic and not composite from what I could tell.  I saw this in my first few hours in the town while on a tour and didn't have time to stop and ask about it but two days later I found the shop again.  I was hoping to be able to get it at a good price and send it to someone I know in Rabbat who has prepped something similar for me but I almost fell over when the shop keeper told me his asking price of 3Million MAD which is about $320,000 USD!!!  I counter offered him 3000 MAD which is $320 USD and I guess he got insulted because he walked out of his shop and I never saw him again!  I'm assuming he either didn't know what he had or thought I was a rich tourist who would be willing to pay anything for the nicest specimen in his shop.  He also had a few of the typical composite mosasaur teeth stuck to plaster to look like small jaw sections and a section of globidens jaw with teeth (likely composite) that was around 18" long.  I saw a lot of fossil plates and the typical Moroccan trinkets you find at US Fossil shows.

 

My wife has already said she wants to go back to Morocco and travel around the country.  It truly is a beautiful place with lots of history and culture and the people were all very friendly!  Hopefully I'll be more successful with finding some nice Dinosaur material on the next trip.

Glad you had a nice trip, I think it's a wonderful country too! :)

It is probable that the prices he was offering were in rials, the old currency which many still use, thinking the Dirham is a French colonial imposition. 20 rials equal 1 Dirham so you must divide the price by 20. Therefore he was actually asking $16,000, very high, but a starting point. When you offered 3,000, he thought you meant 150 Dh or $16. That's why he walked. 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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1 minute ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

It is probable that the prices he was offering were in rials, the old currency which many still use, thinking the Dirham is a French colonial imposition. 20 rials equal 1 Dirham so you must divide the price by 20. Therefore he was actually asking $16,000, very high, but a starting point. When you offered 3,000, he thought you meant 150 Dh or $16. That's why he walked. 

That makes a lot of sense! Still a high starting price and I don't think I would have gotten him to where I wanted to be but it would have been more fun to negotiate with him if he didn't walk out!

 

Negotiating in the souks was one of the best parts of the trip and I feel like I gained a lot of skills for negotiating in Tucson next year!  I still have some Dirhams on me- can't wait to pull it out of my wallet in Tucson to pay for something to a Moroccan seller, I think they'll get a kick out of it!

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Just now, HamptonsDoc said:

That makes a lot of sense! Still a high starting price and I don't think I would have gotten him to where I wanted to be but it would have been more fun to negotiate with him if he didn't walk out!

 

Negotiating in the souks was one of the best parts of the trip and I feel like I gained a lot of skills for negotiating in Tucson next year!  I still have some Dirhams on me- can't wait to pull it out of my wallet in Tucson to pay for something to a Moroccan seller, I think they'll get a kick out of it!

Haggling is quite my favourite thing. :D

Walking out is quite popular. It means little.

I just go back the next day and the price will have dropped considerably, you are greeted like a long lost brother and you start again,  but, I guess you were not in a position to do that.  

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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