Jump to content

Trilobite authenticity


pugrockprincess

Recommended Posts

Hey everyone! New here. I have a lovely collection of trilobites and have recently purchased a large Devonian Phacops (according to description). He's over 14cm long as you can see by the photo on my hand so I wanted to check its authenticity. I've noted the nice eye detail which I know can be hard to fake. It's a VERY smelly fossil though (actually making me sneeze). Almost a cross between plaster and laundry detergent. Is there anything that could cause this if it's genuine? I will assume it's had small cosmetic enhancements but I cannot find any cracks on the matrix etc. Not even sure what the matrix is made of but it's a glittery beige.

Also, would this be a phacops or would it be classed as a drotops?

 

Thanks in advance!

image.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems to be showing up my end! I'll give it another go (sorry!)

image.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks real with parts being restored such as the cephalon right below the eye and some of the pleura , almost 100% it was placed on that piece of matrix

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now it's there. Must've been a delay. Weirder things have happened with images on this forum!

 

There definitely appears to be at the bare minimum, some restoration done. The right librigina (free cheek), seems to be entirely fabricated. A lot of what is there appears to actually be the internal mold of the trilobite, with the whole thing "painted", likely with shoe polish. That matrix looks odd to me. It almost looks like a slab of Green River matrix. I wouldn't say that it's a fake so much as that it looks to be a restored and mounted incomplete example. Others might have better opinions about this one based on their personal experiences.

 

Does look like a Drotops megalomanicus to me.

 

Jay A. Wollin

Lead Fossil Educator - Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve

Hamburg, New York, USA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for your indepth replies! He certainly looks impressive next to the others. I can't detect any traces of glue. Any explanation for the smell? Could it be the stone itself or perhaps the environment it was sat in for a while? I have moved it to another room and the first room still smells strongly! I'd not be so bothered usually but as this is quite a large purchase I don't want to be fooled. Using existing knowledge I could see it wasn't a complete cast. It's very cold and heavy too which is always a good thing!

image.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there a crack running through the matrix block all the way through underneath? 

The matrix doesn't seem right to me. 

I think that it's mostly real, but they've made a real mess of the prepping and covered up the scratches, repairs and dinks on the cephalon and on those pleura and the axis in the middle of the thorax with something like shoe polish; hence the smell. 

You seem to be collecting Moroccan trilobites! 

Hello, and a very warm welcome to TFF from Morocco! :)

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could be whatever was used to paint it. Other than that, could be any number of things really. Could theoretically be where it was stored, could be a glue, really hard to say.

Jay A. Wollin

Lead Fossil Educator - Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve

Hamburg, New York, USA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, that's just a few of them! They're all hid in shoe boxes until I can find somewhere to keep them, but phacops are definitely the favourite. I pulled out a tiny brush hair with tweezers so I know it's had something put on, but I really don't mind that. I just hope the smell doesn't stay! 

This is the underside, I understand Alan Brady sells excellent fossils but I didn't purchase this directly from him, so a sticker in this case is irrelevant to me. If it has been placed on the matrix then that's been done very neatly, but I also wish it didn't have one at all as I prefer them without! This is the underside :)

 

image.jpeg.605170c8d7adaf2b31aaeec13ea1e01f.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Usually, with these Moroccan Devonian trilobites, there is a crack running though the rock , as the fossils are found by splitting open the rock, finding the trace and orientation of the trilo, gluing the rock back together again and then prepping the piece. 

The matrix is usually a grey colour, like on your other specimens under the white, or a sort of brownish, as in one of yours. 

I'm pretty sure this is not the original matrix, but it could be from a more unusual location, I suppose. 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

...I'm pretty sure this is not the original matrix, but it could be from a more unusual location, I suppose. 

 

 

Very unusual matrix indeed... perhaps a new species: Drotops greenriverensis :o :P

image.png.a84de26dad44fb03836a743755df237c.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, piranha said:

 

 

Very unusual matrix indeed... perhaps a new species: Drotops greenriverensis :o :P

Ha de ha.

It does look like Green River sediment doesn't it? You may well be right. 

(but not about Drotops greenriverensis. Probably ;)

 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose no one needs to state whether the matrix is original if the bug is. I have quite a lot from Morocco and no two rocks are identical. I would love a Russian asaphus to break up the monochromacity.

 

I have really appreciated the help everyone, and look forward to joining in a few more posts and learning a little more!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, pugrockprincess said:

I suppose no one needs to state whether the matrix is original if the bug is. I have quite a lot from Morocco and no two rocks are identical...

 

 

The Drotops has been composited onto the matrix. The Drotops layers in Morocco do not yield specimens preserved on flat bedding planes.  

image.png.a84de26dad44fb03836a743755df237c.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It does look suspiciously similar to the sediment of my fish fossils, just sparklier. Unfortunately the maximum image size to post here makes it difficult to capture detail.

I am not a fossil prepper, I had no idea whether rock could be prepped this way. 

 

I'm really happy regardless, I'd have obviously been annoyed if it was a complete cast but you have all put me at ease. I got it for a bargain price which was another suspicion but even for a cast price it was great. My little gerastos could fit in the eye perimeter! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you are happy with it, that is all that matters. I have known fossils that have smelled and they were store in a friends basement (non- finished), thru time the smell does dissipate, hopefully that will happen with yours. 

 

BTW- Welcome to the Forum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some of that smell might be from the resin used to construct missing parts.

If left out to air, the smell should dissipate to some degree.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...