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Hello TFF, This is an older peace river find of mine that still stumps me, the closest guess of mine is some kind of claw based on the articulating surface and potentially a sloth “thumb” bone or something similar. I appreciate any advice or leads. Thank you!

We found this is the mother in laws house here in central cambodia today. I don't have a clue what I'm looking at, someone please tell me about it thank you

My wifes mother had this for years and asked me what this is from. I want to identify the part and creature it's from. We live in central Cambodia.

My wifes mother had this for years and asked me what this is from. I want to identify the part and creature it's from. We live in central Cambodia.

Hello all! I am wondering if anyone can let me know if what I found is anything that belongs in this forum (a fossil) and if so, what it may belong to. I found this at a beach in Oahu near Honolulu. Outside of an interest in all things Dino (basic knowledge), I have never hunted for fossils and stumbled upon this in the hopes of finding a good shell or a shark tooth, but really know nothing. So any clarification is appreciated!

So you want to buy a Spinosaurus Claw? Then this might help you. This is a guide I wanted to set up for a while to help others in finding and buying a real claw. Its mostly focused on new collectors. I have noticed recently many people are searching and ending up with fake claws. This made me upset, and I wanted to reach out, and hopefully safe some people from this trap. A disclaimer: this is based on my experiences and opinions, by no means im a Paleontologist or do I know everything, but since I have started collecting, I have been obsessed with searching for claws, and you learn allot along the way, and by talking to other fanatics and sharing information. The photos I have used are from the past, taken from the web , the forum, or auction platforms, or personal. Special thanks to some members on this forum who have helped and still help me with sharing they knowledge. At this moment there are more fake claws than real claws to be find online and in stores. This is very important to know. Its very problematic. And its a big business. Im focussing in this topic specifically on 'Spinosaurids' Handclaws from Marokko. Keep in mind a real claw is very expensive, we cannot talk about prices here , but im just stating , finding a good real claw cheap is like winning the lottery. Also keep in mind a claw is much much more rare then a tooth. The Spinosaurus had only 3 of them on each hand. While it shed tooth and regrown them its whole life span, this is why a Spinosaurus tooth is not so expensive and rare. Another thing to keep remembering, do not trust any dealer / or seller blindly, I have seen fake claws being sold by dealers who have a good reputation. Im not at all saying they did it on purpose. Its up to you to educate yourself enough to know what your doing. Also do not fall for the trap of 'with authenticity documents' it does not mean anything, and can be made by anyone. Key things that are very difficult to imitate are the bloodgroves, running from both sides, and the bone structure, that runs around and follows curve of the claw, and the general shape of the claw. Finding a complete unrestored claw is even rarer, most of them have a missing tip, or back end, much like Dinosaur teeth also, the tip is very fragille, and usually restored, or glued together. Complete ones are very rare. There is also something to say on what of the three claws your dealing with , the tumb claw is the most valuable and thickest so the most wanted , they can be massive. The bigger the claw the higher the price, its as simple as that. Im dividing this topic in 6 sections with photos, what to look for, what to run away from. Ill start with the bad, going down to the best. Mostly highlighting the traps. 1 - fake composite claws the most common 2 - Carved bone caws 3 - partially fake composite claws (very misleading and dangerous 4 - poorly preserved, but real claws 5 - restored enhanced claws 6 - real claws 1. Here we have some examples of fake composited claws. There are tons of them on the web, Ive selected a few of them to make the point. Look at the wierd curved shape, horrible! another very bad composed one , look at the awe full non smooth shape And here a pretty common thing you see with fake composed claws, they sure parts of bone in their creation , to make it appear real, bellow I've marked were Another bad example, notice the overdone bloodgroves, clearly made by man. Ive quickly marked some parts where you can see random parts of bone have been added. 2. Ok so now we move on to carved from bone claws. Ive highlighted one specific one that was pretty misleading. It looked almost to perfect, and they had managed to more or less let the bone structure follow up curve of the claw. Ive almost ended up buying this claw (luckily I did not) the week after the seller had posted an almost identical , proving even more it was a fake the chance of having two claws that are almost identical is 0 in ? . Looking back at it, I think its made from multiple bone parts shifted to make it appear that it follows the curve, the shape is also to perfect to be real. They also ad these cracks with some filler, to give it a more authentic appeal ! look out for these. Here al two other carved bone claws. For the untrained eye, real, because you see 'bone' its very misleading and dangerous, a complete fake. Ive made some markings, showing the straight line of the bone structure. This should have been curved , following the curve of the claw. Another thing to notice is the almost perfect unnatural shape, especially the back end. The cracks they add on purpose to make them appeal authentic. 100% fake. One more: Again spot the straight line structure. 3. Ok so now I move on to partially fake composite claws (very misleading and dangerous) it contains parts of a real claw, but its overall fake. Ive highlighted one claw as a clear example. Notice a small part of the middle area to be real, and the tip also, they have kept these parts and added composite around it, to make it appear as an a authentic claw. 4. Now we move on to poorly preserved, but real claws. A choice of the buyer whether you want to invest in this or not. It can be nice if the price is good. Usually the price is for these are almost the same as other real claws though. But at least you are not buying a fake. A very nice and huge tumb claw , it clearly shows the bone structure following up the curve of the claw. It also shows us a clear mark were it was broken and fixed back together with filler and glue. In my opinion still very nice to have. A large authentic claw, but it has allot of hard matrix still attached to it. This can be dangerous if you are not knowing what to look for. Notice the bone structure small holls, and the bloodgrove. And last a small but real handclaw, a bit poorly preserved. 5 - Ok now we take a look at Restored enhanced claws, these can be tricky also. A fair seller should provide you with a before and after photo. If you are OK with it, you can move along, but know its not an authentic complete claw. They make them apear bigger, better, etc. Personally I always prefer authentic. Photo of the claw as it has been found. Here is an example of a before and after. The same claw after the restoration? Can you recognize it? Also notice the redish color batch they add to cover up the resto. Another example bellow of a real claw that has been restored, and colored the same way. Hard to say what the original would have looked. And last another one were I have marked the real part, and most likely the complete tip has been restored. 6. And then we Finally move on to the REAL claws Here we see a very fine example of a middle sized claw Notice the beautiful bone structure, the small holes, and the flawless color, and the bloodgrove. Another nice example, completely authentic with some filler. Very nice example. Good tip and back end. Two other very nicely preserved examples, with the typical Kem Kem colorization. Another nice one I think its the middle claw of the hand. It has been cracked in three parts but clearly visible and real. Another example, it shows a clear bone structure, blood grove etc. These things are very hard to imitate. So there we go , Hope this helps some collectors! I might edit some along the way. Apologies for some typo errors it might contain. English is not my native language.

I got this online and all I know is that it was found in Florida. Any help is appreciated. (Ruler is in inches)

Found this super, super small claw today. Just over half an inch in length. Looks kind of ornithomimid but I’m not sure. Anyone have a better guess? dinosaur park fm

Howdy everyone! I was hoping y'all could help identify or at least give a broad idea of what kind of animal this beautiful little claw could have belong to. The claw was found in Harding County, South Dakota (Hell Creek formation) and is said to likely come from a large lizard or amphibian. Any thoughts? As always, thank you guys so much! This forum is truly invaluable.

Hopefully someone can help me identify what this is. Tooth, claw? Found it near my home in a old river bed while searching for arrowheads

Found in East Central Texas, looks like a claw about two inches in length.

Hi! My family just returned from a vacation to the Riviera Maya near Playa del Carmen and we are curious if anyone could help ID this piece my 10yr old found while sifting in the surf. Apologies if it’s not a fossil at all, but it looks very different from any of the fossilized coral and shells we found. He has been calling it the “Claw” but hoping it is actually a shark tooth, but we do realize shark teeth seem to not be found much in that region. Internet searches have not helped me narrow down the possibilities, but those searches helped me find your forum. Regardless, we love this piece and we think it is an awesome find! Any ideas/help is appreciated! Thanks!

I am really considering aquiring this claw. I would have to sell some stuff for it but I really want to be sure. Handclaw of a Suchomimus. Niger. Besides the obvious repair and prep it needs. Do you guys see issues or things to avoid?

Hi folks First post - absolute newbie to the subject, so please go easy on me (especially as what I propose doing may well be seen as vandalism by some!). I have a dinosaur obsessed partner (Velociraptors in particular) and I'd like to get her a unique gift. So I was thinking of purchasing as nice a tooth or claw as I can get my hands on and somehow attach it to a necklace. I guess the easiest way to do this would be to drill a small hole through it, but how viable is this in reality? I appreciate this is probably a 'depends on the example in question' question, but how likely am I to reduce a lovely piece of history into a crumbled mess? Are these typically quite solid materials? Would their be a preferred material between a tooth or claw? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Scott

This is advertised as a Sauropod claw from Niger, no further locality listed. The morphology does seem kind of correct, but I have my doubts and something seems a bit off to me. Any opinions?

Location is kem kem beds, seller said less than 5% restoration. I know nothing about claws but this one almost looks too good to be true and too perfect but I’m not sure how to definitively tell if it’s real or fake

Hello everyone! I'm going to start posting fossils individually, to gain more traction on the forum. I'll post a few fossils I am worried are fake or composite today, then repost any fossils I have yet to receive identification for with higher-quality images in about a week. I bought this Edmontosaurus tooth fossil from a somewhat unreliable website online. Is it real? If any of you need more high quality photographs, please tell me. Also, as I don't know where else to post this, I purchased this Tarbosaurus claw replica a while ago. Do any of you know which digit it comes from? Thank you and hope you have a good day!

Hi everyone, I brought a small collection of hell creek digits and claws, and wanted some help with identification. They come from Garfield county and are mostly small. Appreciate any help and thanks a lot ! first is a tiny claw, theropod or bird?? Measures about .375in second one looks like a theropod claw? Maybe dromeosaurid or struthiomimus ? .5 inches third one is a little over a inch, maybe pachy/thesce? 4th one not sure what species 1.25inch 5th one 1 inch. Turtle? 6th theropod? Dromeosaurid? Troodontid? 1 inch 7th a 1.25inch digit not sure what species. again thanks for all the help, I’m not very comfortable with identification of digits and claws yet :).

Good afternoon, I'm new to the site, I own a house in Florida and found the item in the pictures below. It looks like a claw, looks to have pores. Its heavier than a rock of the same size and is non metallic. Its dark brown almost black Any help identifying it would be great.

Hi, I dug this up from the ground while working today, any ideas on what it is.

Hello all, I have been sorting through some more Waurika Permian micro-matrix recently, and I was excited to find not just one, but two claws in one day when I hadn't found a single one before this! One is larger than the other and more curved and fearsome looking (well, as far as microfossils go). The bigger one is just over 4mm and the smaller one is a bit over 2mm. I also included a piece which looks maybe like a weird helodus tooth, maybe a fish mouth plate, or maybe a tiny prehistoric iron. Its size is just under 4mm. I'll summon the experts who helped me out last time, @ThePhysicist and @jdp, would you mind taking a look at these? Claw # 1: 4mm Claw #2: 2mm Unknown fishy bit: 4mm That's all, thanks for looking!

I really have no clue on this one. My best guess is some kind of Core of something. Seems to have bone structure inside. It is fossilized and heavy. Found in North Central Nebraska Miocene.

Looking at purchasing this claw and it’s labeled as a suchomimus foot claw. There is restoration but was told only the tip has been restored. Is there more resto on this claw or any other red flags from what you can see. Any info on this claw will be appreciated!