Fake Carcharodontosaurus tooth

[paulyb135]

Last year when I was still a rookie in the dinosaur tooth collecting hobby I acquired a rooted Carcharodontosaurus in a trade. I was advised shortly after receiving it by a few people that it looks pretty fake. I have only just got the time to look in to this properly and my findings astounded me! 

 

Attached is a before and after image. The root is completely fake and the crown is made up of at least two different carch teeth and then glued together and painted. I have now thrown this tooth in the bin.

 

My advice for all collectors so they don’t make the same errors as me and others I’m sure is to get second and third opinions before buying or trading! 

 

 

 

 

 

[TyBoy]

Good to post.  Does not look like your normal hack job but a more professional prep person with the work done on the crown.  Roots are not solid but hollow and most have an indentation for the replacement tooth 

[paulyb135]

The crown looked decent but the root is just plaster type material. Luckily I didn’t trade anything too valuable 

[Haravex]

Sadly these people who sell junk like this only care about making money if I had a customer who had bought this from me I would be mortified. But another excellent example of why buyers should be cautious, what to look for and further backs up the point of asking in the forum if you are ever unsure.

[Pemphix]

Wow, what a piece of crab that "fossil" is....

[paulyb135]

1 hour ago, Pemphix said:

Wow, what a piece of crab that "fossil" is....

Yeah I know! Hopefully my misfortune will prevent others experiencing this

[Pemphix]

9 hours ago, paulyb135 said:

Yeah I know! Hopefully my misfortune will prevent others experiencing this

Don't worry, these forgers and frauders getting better and better - without having the piece in your hand it's difficult to tell if it is real or not theseadays....

 

[Aurelius]

Yikes! I wouldn't have thrown that in the bin, there are some good pieces of real fossil there, including some nice serrations. I'd have bought it for macro photography.

[paulyb135]

45 minutes ago, Aurelius said:

Yikes! I wouldn't have thrown that in the bin, there are some good pieces of real fossil there, including some nice serrations. I'd have bought it for macro photography.

 

There was little point in keeping it for my sake as to me it was worthless. It’s a shame I’ve already thrown it as had someone like yourself wanted it I’d have sent FOC 

[Randyw]

Actually there was probably a lot of people that groaned when they read that you had chucked it in the bin... I’ve seen several posts on here where people have tossed pieces that I would have been drooling over. They seem common or not worth the effort to them but to some of us who don’t have acces and/or funds for the great stuff it still would have given us a chance to put an example in our collections or pieces to practice on etc etc...

[paulyb135]

38 minutes ago, Randyw said:

Actually there was probably a lot of people that groaned when they read that you had chucked it in the bin... I’ve seen several posts on here where people have tossed pieces that I would have been drooling over. They seem common or not worth the effort to them but to some of us who don’t have acces and/or funds for the great stuff it still would have given us a chance to put an example in our collections or pieces to practice on etc etc...

 

Maybe you’re right but if I kept it then a heavily restored / fake tooth is still in circulation isn’t it? I don’t think I have seen another post where people have been keen to obtain a heavily broken and restored tooth. 

 

I have a spino which i know is heavily restored so if i do the same tests I’ll be sure to not throw it away this time and offer it FOC on first come first serve basis 

[Pemphix]

Maybe a gallery of fake fossil in the forum would be a good idea - to learn from common examples...?

[Randyw]

18 minutes ago, paulyb135 said:

 

Maybe you’re right but if I kept it then a heavily restored / fake tooth is still in circulation isn’t it? I don’t think I have seen another post where people have been keen to obtain a heavily broken and restored tooth. 

 

I have a spino which i know is heavily restored so if i do the same tests I’ll be sure to not throw it away this time and offer it FOC on first come first serve basis 

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying to keep it whole. The fake root trashcan. But the two piece tooth? If someone had asked me here you want this for a couple buck plus shipping? I would have jumped on it. Then I would have separated the unmatched 2 partial teeth and kept the one sm piece for a sample and displayed the tip. That tip was beautiful imo and I would have been happy with it in my collection.

[Randyw]

Similar to my megalodon piece collection. I can’t afford a whole tooth of these sizes but I can sometimes find pieces for not too much becuase someone thought they were worthless

[paulyb135]

43 minutes ago, Randyw said:

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying to keep it whole. The fake root trashcan. But the two piece tooth? If someone had asked me here you want this for a couple buck plus shipping? I would have jumped on it. Then I would have separated the unmatched 2 partial teeth and kept the one sm piece for a sample and displayed the tip. That tip was beautiful imo and I would have been happy with it in my collection.

 

Okay no problem. I’ll tell you what, I have two spinosaurus teeth that I don’t want and I’d be happy to send them to you FOC if you pay for shipping. One of them looks restored so I can either do what I did to the carch and send the findings or send both complete and you can have a play. Please send me a PM if of interest and I’ll send pics of both teeth  

[caldigger]

Good man Pauly!  

[paulyb135]

2 hours ago, caldigger said:

Good man Pauly!  

 

Just trying to do my bit for the fossil community 

[Randyw]

I don’t know how international shipping and payments works but I’ll send you a pm and we will see if we can get me educated! 

[Abstraktum]

Really nasty fake. However the tip looks nice for what it is. Maybe some decent restoration will help put it back in an original state. 

It has a really nice color painting. I think it's worth a try.

 

Again I can only point out my work with this fabricated tooth: 

 

In the end you only need Acetone and a good super glue.  

[paulyb135]

19 minutes ago, Abstraktum said:

Really nasty fake. However the tip looks nice for what it is. Maybe some decent restoration will help put it back in an original state. 

It has a really nice color painting. I think it's worth a try.

 

Again I can only point out my work with this fabricated tooth: 

 

In the end you only need Acetone and a good super glue.  

 

Ubfortunately this tooth is at the bottom of one of my bin sacks and it’s not worth the hassle of digging through disposed food etc for it as I have a pristine carch tooth already. Now I know how restored it was it won’t be missed personally but next time I’ll see if others want it before I chuck it 

[Randyw]

@paulyb135 I picked up the teeth at the post office today! I just want to send a big thank you to pauly! I’m thrilled to have them. First I’m going to see what’s real and what’s reconstructed and go from there! Almost makes me want to try to open a randyw’s home for unloved fossils! LOL!

[paulyb135]

5 hours ago, Randyw said:

@paulyb135 I picked up the teeth at the post office today! I just want to send a big thank you to pauly! I’m thrilled to have them. First I’m going to see what’s real and what’s reconstructed and go from there! Almost makes me want to try to open a randyw’s home for unloved fossils! LOL!

 

You are most welcome! It’s really opened my eyes to the fact that just because I don’t necessarily appreciate something it doesn’t mean that others won’t. It’s also rewarding knowing you really like them too! They are in a much better place than in my drawer doing nothing. 

 

I would highly recommend there was a thread for unwanted fossils with a relatively low value that members can send to others who maybe cannot afford to buy them themselves. Go on and make someone’s day  

 

Paul

[FossilNerd]

 

4 hours ago, paulyb135 said:

 

I would highly recommend there was a thread for unwanted fossils with a relatively low value that members can send to others who maybe cannot afford to buy them themselves. Go on and make someone’s day  

 

Paul

I agree! I found out very quickly, once I joined TFF, that some fossils that I see all the time and take for granted would be loved by other people as they don’t have any in their area. I know I wouldn’t mind sending some out for others to enjoy, and maybe getting a few myself. 

[paulyb135]

26 minutes ago, FossilNerd said:

 

I agree! I found out very quickly, once I joined TFF, that some fossils that I see all the time and take for granted would be loved by other people as they don’t have any in their area. I know I wouldn’t mind sending some out for others to enjoy, and maybe getting a few myself. 

Hopefully this is the start of more freebies between fossil forum members. I’ll do more digging around and see if I have any more

 

hint - I am after a torvosaurus and acrocanthosaurus tooth  

[RJB]

  A tuff way to learn,  but the best way to learn too.  Thanks for posting this.

 

RB