Keichousarus Damaged, How can I repair?

[Washoi]

Hello everyone, I purchased a Keichousaurus from our favorite auction site. It was a reputable seller and using a black light and closer inspection it's real. Plus I have the added bonus of it having been dropped and split through as it was only packed with newspaper and not market fragile, then played footy with by australia postal service... so, yeh.. its' real but it's broken. The top left has crumbled and is discolored. and it has a crack through the tail.

 

Can anyone advise me how to adequately repair this?

 

I have been promised a replacement specimen which will be sent soon, But I would like to salvage what I can.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

[Bobby Rico]

Oh that is sad.  If I purchase from a sellers that I don’t know I request how I would like it packed for shipping. It can offend some seller but I explain it better than asking for money or returns on damage goods, they normally agree then. I also tell them if it packed well I will leave fantastic feedback.

 

l would use a thick superglue but do not add much glue because . To much glue and it can keep the join a part. Also glue at the back of the join so you keep the glue for the specimen. You should clamp it if possible my friends Kris and Ron will tell you the best way. I also would back it on a broad this type of fossil seams to be very fragile. 

 

 some help from experts please @Ptychodus04  @RJB

 

[Washoi]

Thank you for your reply. I will apply some superglue and give it a go. Luckily the break was pretty clean, but unfortunately there is discoloration where the shale broke apart. Do you have any advice on making the matrix a more uniform color? Or just let time take it's toll?

 

Thanks for the advice!

[Bobby Rico]

12 hours ago, Washoi said:

Thank you for your reply. I will apply some superglue and give it a go. Luckily the break was pretty clean, but unfortunately there is discoloration where the shale broke apart. Do you have any advice on making the matrix a more uniform color? Or just let time take it's toll?

 

Thanks for the advice!

Hold on for the prep legends to reply. I don’t know if a different type of glue maybe needed or work better. Can you please do a picture in better light . You cold paint the discoloured matrix but see how it looks after gluing. Matrix does look very strange. Good luck Bobby

[Washoi]

I hope this picture is better. Thanks for your replies!

[daves64]

I don't think it's actually discolored. Looks like the surface was painted black for some reason & the light area is the actual color. 

[Ptychodus04]

Thanks for the heads up @Bobby Rico.

 

@Washoi, I would do as Bobby suggests and superglue the piece together. If the pieces fit snugly, a thin glue is best. If the pieces doen't fit well due to crumbling, then go for a higher viscosity superglue gel. If you have access to a couple of large clamps, clamp the pieces together immediately after applying the glue. You want to snug up the pieces in order to give a stronger bond with the glue.

 

On the corner, my advice would be to paint the break to match the rest of the piece. It will be very hard to repair unless you have several large pieces. I'm assuming not since you described it as "crumbled". It does appear that the matrix has been painted black as @daves64 notes. If you want to attempt to resolve this, you can soak the pieces in acetone prior to repairing them. This should take most of the paint off. Beware, this will also open up any other glue joints if there are any. Another option is to rub a rag soaked in acetone on the surface to attempt the removal. I would speculate that the painting was done to make the specimen look more like what a buyer expects to see.

[snolly50]

@Washoi @daves64 @Ptychodus04

 

If it's painted, how did they avoid the white mineral veins running throughout? It would seem that would require extraordinary precision. If it is artificially derived, perhaps it is a stain/paint that would not adhere to the veins??? Is the "black" on all previously exposed surfaces? Is the color a result of natural oxidation that will eventually tint the newly exposed matrix???  I'm not satisfied at this point as to what we are seeing. 

[Washoi]

Fantastic info thank you, I will try to super glue it now. I did rub some acetone on the side of the matrix earlier and no black paint seem to come off, but I did use the acetone very very sparingly, I was worried I'd do more damage than good after all. 

 

I do have a large selection of paints available to me as I did graduate Uni with an art degree. So I think I'll match up the color best I can!

[Ptychodus04]

11 minutes ago, snolly50 said:

If it's painted, how did they avoid the white mineral veins running throughout? It would seem that would require extraordinary precision. If it is artificially derived, perhaps it is a stain/paint that would not adhere to the veins??? Is the "black" on all previously exposed surfaces? Is the color a result of natural oxidation that will eventually tint the newly exposed matrix???  I'm not satisfied at this point as to what we are seeing. 

My thought was that it is probably a water based paint/stain that was rubbed onto the specimen then wiped off. The calcite veins would typically resist accepting the stain. I didn't think oxidization due tot he extreme color difference but that is entirely possible. Seeing as acetone was employed to no effect, it is quite possible, contrary to my previous thoughts.

[caldigger]

Here's a question for ya. Is the broken ( interior) surface along the big plate break a light colored matrix as well?

Could be that corner was broken upon extraction and they patched up that corner to make the plate square for selling purposes. Then their patch rebroke.

[Washoi]

3 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

My thought was that it is probably a water based paint/stain that was rubbed onto the specimen then wiped off. The calcite veins would typically resist accepting the stain. I didn't think oxidization due tot he extreme color difference but that is entirely possible. Seeing as acetone was employed to no effect, it is quite possible, contrary to my previous thoughts.

 

I just looked at the rear of the plate, it's definitely painted, and it does seem to be water color. Where it had broke before I glued it, it was a brown color. Thanks for your thoughts on the matter, I will probably touch it up with some paints to make a more unified look. Here is a picture of where they "missed a bit" at the back.

 

 

4 minutes ago, caldigger said:

Here's a question for ya. Is the broken ( interior) surface along the big plate break a light colored matrix as well?

Could be that corner was broken upon extraction and they patched up that corner to make the plate square for selling purposes. Then their patch rebroke.

 

I am unsure if the patch re-broke. I'm probably going to fill in the crack and patch with some paint now I realize it's painted. Where it split I could see that the tail vertebrae were real so I'm thankful that it's probably a reasonably complete specimen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much to everybody for your replies and expertise!  I'm so thankful to be a member of this forum, even if I don't post much!

[Bobby Rico]

Artist acrylic will do the job nicely and drys quickly. 

[RJB]

  Top part of this slab looks a bit fishy.  Im no expert but the body is ventral and the head is dorsal.  Looks like head and part of neck has been added?  

Just went back to take another look.  something fishy about this whole thing.  Even were it has broken looks to have been broken before and repaired?  Hard to tell with it not being in my hands and giving it a real good inspection. 

 

RB

Edited March 25, 2019 by RJB
added more text

[Bguild]

1 hour ago, RJB said:

  Top part of this slab looks a bit fishy.  Im no expert but the body is ventral and the head is dorsal.  Looks like head and part of neck has been added?  

Just went back to take another look.  something fishy about this whole thing.  Even were it has broken looks to have been broken before and repaired?  Hard to tell with it not being in my hands and giving it a real good inspection. 

 

RB

 

This ^^^. 

 

Looks like a composite specimen. That would explain why they painted the matrix to hide their work. Hard to tell if there are bones that have been carved, or painted in.

[steelhead9]

The entire upper 1/6 of the plate is made of putty, including the head. The vertbra just below the head appear to be composited and are slightly too large to match the vertebra below. Keichousaurs never crumble like that and the matrix is always paper thin layers of varying color, not uniform brown. Others have correctly stated to use super glue to glue the break together. If you wish to hide the crack you can fill it with epoxy putty. I would mix black and white putty until I achieved the color of the matrix. The Chinese usually use white putty to fill cracks and resemble calcite veins.

[JarrodB]

I don't think it's legit either. 

[FranzBernhard]

To me, its a little bit too perfect to be true. Body and legs are nearly perfect symmetrically arranged (left-right). I have no knowledge of the anatomy of this animals, but everything seems to be too perfectly spreed out on the matrix. But that´s just a feeling, I don´t know.

Franz Bernhard

[daves64]

Between the white chipped areas, one of which looks to be on a "bone" and that break which seems to be more of a cut area, I wonder just how much of it is real. In the pic you can see the straightness of the "break" including a lines showing the original cut peeking through the painted putty covering. Also, there seems to be paint showing in the cut area as well, possibly due to paint seeping into the cut through the putty in less glued areas. But this is, of course, just my opinion. 

[Aurelius]

That is definitely putty, as others have pointed out.

[Washoi]

Well all these make me feel sad.

 

I thought I could see the vertebrae of the tail where it broke. The guy has tonnes of positive reviews and no duplicate specimens..

 

I got duped I guess!  I have learnt my lesson. It didn`t show any issues through the blacklight, and some inspection but maybe the paint obscured it all.

[Bobby Rico]

3 hours ago, Washoi said:

Well all these make me feel sad.

Yes it is very sad but it is a learning curve.

Contact the seller and send it back for a refund, it is also broken. If you payed with paypal contact them they also can get you your money back too. 

In the future post your potential purchase on the forum in the “is it real ?“  before buying  and ask for help . I call it “try before you buy”. 

 

I did this post, so members can look closely at a specimen and learn its structure as a comparison.

 

 

[steelhead9]

After looking more closely at the edges of the broken area, I am inclined to think the whole thing is a cast, although well done.

[MarielleK]

@Crazyhen Any opinions on this specimen? The bones in the head do not look right to me.

[Crazyhen]

1 hour ago, MarielleK said:

@Crazyhen Any opinions on this specimen? The bones in the head do not look right to me.

Based on the photo, at least the skull and the tail are not real, they are craved (note the very distinctive skull and tail compared with the rest of the body).  The body, which may largely be real, is badly prepped.  The worst thing is that the seller was packing such a fragile slab with newspaper!  No matter it's real or fake, the slab is going to be broken into pieces.