Inexperienced and about to get scammed

[Grim_realm]

Dear all, 

 

I've just stumbled upon this forum and am grateful to all of you for all the information and support you're giving. 

I would like to start a collection of fossils but have basically no knowledge on the matter. 

A few days ago I saw an auction on a common website with "expert confirmation and estimated price" and it was expiring a few hours later. I saw an opportunity and jumped on it. And by looking at the claw - I think I got scammed. So far I haven't payed for anything, but I'm being pressured to do so. 

Could someone tell me if all 3 are fake? 

The skeleton and the claw are from one seller, the skull is from another. The pictures of the claw obviously show 2 different ones, but they should be "the one" I won. 

 

Please advise

Edited August 23 by Grim_realm

[Frightmares]

The claw definitely looks carved to me. Skeleton also looks sketchy. The skull, I’m not sure. I’d ask what restoration was done to it though. See what others say. 

[Isotelus2883]

Don’t pay, especially if you spent a large amount of money.

[hadrosauridae]

Claw looks like a carved composite, the skulls look like composites ( and probably mixed with manmade sections ) and the skeleton looks extremely suspect.

[Brandy Cole]

Hi @Grim_realm

 

Since you're mostly trying to determine if your items are fake or altered instead of a species ID, I've moved your post to the "Is It Real" thread.

 

Sorry I'm not more help, but we have many members with experience in this area. 

 

Good luck!

[North]

Im sorry, but I agree with others. I can't comment the claw because I know very little about them, but skull looks mostly composited. I can only see tiny bits of real material besides the teeth, which do not match with the skull shape.

Its hard to see much from the skeleton, but most likely the same case.

 

Be very suspicious when you see full mosasaur skulls or skeletons.

[Maxaurus]

The spinosaurid claw looks carved. Check out the pinned threads regarding fake claws. There are also some real ones for comparison. You will definitely see the differences

[TyBoy]

Agree the claw is carved, very typical of those you see on auction sites

[Grim_realm]

I am really grateful to all of you for your comments and support. 

I have read some of the threads on how to recognise fakes, but I needed your reassurance that it's better for me to run away from these items. 

Thank you once more and wish you all the best! 

 

Kind regards, 

Ivan

[FF7_Yuffie]

I would suggest, before buying any Moroccan material, post it on here first. So many fakes or composites from there.

 

I don't see many faked US fossils--beyond the usual guy selling an obvious rock and labelling it as "triceratops head" $500. It's mainly misidentification from the US.

 

 

 

[FB003]

Claws are not real in my opinion. @Phos_01 put a nice little article together recently. 

 

No clue about the skull (they are mosasaur teeth at least) but the fact that the skeleton is blurry in every photo is a red flag. If someone is selling something of that scale, I would expect to see close ups of each section to help facilitate the conclusion that it is real.  Most of the pics are of the same angle too so I think it would be difficult to call it real or composite based on whats there. Did they claim it's all 100% real? I'm sure some pieces of it are but I'd also assume pieces are not or are not original.