Mystery Mammal Tooth

[siteseer]

I saw this tooth at a gem and mineral show a few years ago.  Unfortunately, it didn't have a label.  Normally, I pass on fossils with no info no matter how cheap and intriguing they are but it was unlike anything I've had in my collection so I bought it.  I just found it again this year while trying to clear and clean up some space.

 

It's a mostly-complete crown, perhaps a lower molar, with perhaps some root but the base of the tooth is almost completely obscured by restoration which appears to be plaster.  A little plaster was also used to restore part of a cusp and part of a side.  The plaster appears off-white to a yellow-orange against the brown enamel in the photos.  That indicates it's an old collection piece as almost nobody uses plaster anymore, various types of putty having been the preferred material for at least the past couple of decades.  It's about 1 1/2 x 1 11/16 inches in occlusal view and the crown is about 5/16 to 11/16 inches high.

 

I showed it to a fossil dealer with a lot of experience with a range of mammals.  He thought it could be something unusual from the Eocene and more likely the later Eocene.  I think it might be an early gomphothere tooth and one most likely from North America (as it came out of a private collection in California but that's really just a guess) which would make it Middle-Late Miocene in age.  I guess it could be some kind of anthracothere.  I don't know.

 

I was wondering what any of the "mammal people" think of it.

 

@fossillarry  @Harry Pristis 

 

Jess

[Ruger9a]

Platybelodon maybe.

[Harry Pristis]

 

Gomphothere "milk" tooth is a not unreasonable guess.  The underside of the tooth -- are the roots broken, or are they dissolved as in a "spit" tooth?  A spit tooth might explain the advanced wear.

 

 

[Ruger9a]

Quote

Here is a photo of a Platybelodon tooth I have

 

[siteseer]

On 11/4/2019 at 9:29 AM, Harry Pristis said:

 

Gomphothere "milk" tooth is a not unreasonable guess.  The underside of the tooth -- are the roots broken, or are they dissolved as in a "spit" tooth?  A spit tooth might explain the advanced wear.

 

 

 

Hi Harry,

 

There's plaster over the base of the crown.  It looks like there's just a little bit of the root left.  There appears to be at least one broken base but I'd have to clean it to be sure.  I haven't seen a gomphothere tooth this small before so I figured it was an early one.

 

Jess

[siteseer]

12 hours ago, Ruger9a said:

 

 

 

I'm wondering if that could be a big pig tooth.  There was one in the Early-Middle Miocene of China.

 

 

 

[Ruger9a]

Here is a photo of a hog tooth from China from the same seller of the Platybelodon tooth. 

[Ruger9a]

Here are photos of the finished Platty tooth.

[caldigger]

You did a good job an didn't over polish it.  Looks nice! 

[Ruger9a]

Thanks Caldigger.  I don't like to use machine tools on fossils if I can avoid it.  I try to do everything by hand so I can control the process better.

[Randyw]

Looks great!