First time fossil buyer - was I duped at the Denver show?

[thegnome54]

Thanks again to all for your comments - I really appreciate your time and positive attitudes. This experience has been very discouraging but I would still love to own a real fossil. It will be a long time before I'm comfortable trying to spend money on one again, though! I don't often buy things for myself in the first place.

I would absolutely love to find my own, and I'll look into that. I've just moved here to Denver and am planning to explore the area anyhow. I will dig around here and try to learn more. You seem like a very knowledgeable and welcoming community!

[North]

I think one major problem is that there is no easy/fast way to proof fossils authenticy. It is based on person's knowledge and experience, so someone would needed to be authoritaced to check them.

 

If compared to gold or silver which can be checked with spectrometer. Anyone can potentially use it.

[thegnome54]

Interesting point. I have read that the hardness of the fossil material can be a giveaway - so perhaps a scratch test could work for detecting resin casts? I'm not sure whether there are some genuine fossil materials with a hardness lower than resins, though.

 

I imagine a spectrometer could actually work as well, in the case of resins.

[Runner64]

52 minutes ago, thegnome54 said:

Interesting point. I have read that the hardness of the fossil material can be a giveaway - so perhaps a scratch test could work for detecting resin casts? I'm not sure whether there are some genuine fossil materials with a hardness lower than resins, though.

I think a scratch test would be unreliable since fossil hardness depends on the rock it is preserved in.

 

53 minutes ago, thegnome54 said:

I imagine a spectrometer could actually work as well, in the case of resins.

Yes, possible but not very feasible to bring one to a show and dealers might not appreciate scratching off pieces of a fossil to test.

 

Your best bet is to become knowledgeable about fossils and how to identify fakes!

[Brett Breakin' Rocks]

9 hours ago, Auspex said:

Well done; thank you!

Hey ! .. @Auspex nice to see you around the forum again. We missed you. 

 

Indeed, the best defense is education and lots of visual research, and patience. At least for me, that has always worked. The forum has helped in that regard immesely. 

Cheers,
Brett

[FranzBernhard]

10 hours ago, thegnome54 said:

I would absolutely love to find my own, and I'll look into that. I've just moved here to Denver and am planning to explore the area anyhow.

I think, you have moved to a good area for finding fossils yourself! Just start digging - first on your computer and the internet, of course .

Franz Bernhard

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

14 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

I would say that every vendor in these case knew exactly what they was selling. Morally I find it hard to understand how they can behave like this . 

Indeed.

But, sadly, money is more powerful than some people's morality and some folk are entirely amoral. 

[Bobby Rico]

2 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Indeed.

But, sadly, money is more powerful than some people's morality and some folk are entirely amoral. 

Yes indeed, the vendors buy this junk by the box load and sale it as genuine fossil, Really good money in this and very little effort needed in sourcing the products (a fast buck , lining your pockets) . 

[erose]

I find it frustrating when fossils that are repaired are sold as "complete".   I would happily purchase a "repaired" specimen. Same with casts if they are made from original specimens.

[aplomado]

On 9/15/2023 at 2:26 PM, thegnome54 said:

I would absolutely love to find my own, and I'll look into that. I've just moved here to Denver and am planning to explore the area anyhow. I will dig around here and try to learn more. You seem like a very knowledgeable and welcoming community!

There's nothing wrong with buying fossils, but finding them can be a rush...  It's kind of like treasure hunting!

 

I recommend that you find a local paleontology society that does field trips to help you get started.

[SPrice]

Here's a bone...not a fossil...but a freebie nonetheless.  52 miles south of you = Florissant Fossil quarry. One of the pay to split fossil bearing rocks quarries. Might have some post season opportunities left. But their season has closed with exceptions.

 

Here's another ...just 200 miles west of you on highway 70 west.  BLM land to dig/surface find fossils near Harley's Dome, UT.

 

And another freebie ..add 33 miles to that and you can join me for a 100% guaranteed authentic right out of the ground fossil collecting time. 

 

A little bit of Googling around the web and you'll find somewhere to find fossils.

[hadrosauridae]

OP doesnt even have to do that far. Triceratops were found in Denver while putting in a housing development, AND the pro ball field.

[Jared C]

20 hours ago, hadrosauridae said:

OP doesnt even have to do that far. Triceratops were found in Denver while putting in a housing development, AND the pro ball field.

not to mention the Morrison formation type locality isn't very far...

[jpc]

New in Denver...you need to join WIPS, the Western Interior Paleontological Society.  There is much to know and learn in the Denver area. 

 

westernpaleo.org

[Opabinia Blues]

Fakes are ubiquitous with Moroccan dealers. My rule of thumb is stay away unless you are very well versed in what you’re looking for. Not to imply that every fossil offered by a Moroccan dealer is fake, far from it, you just have to be very careful. 
 

I always peruse the Moroccan booths at the Denver show because you can find genuine material for cheap. I bought a couple very nice real and natural  Zarafasaura vertebrae at this year’s Denver show. While I’m doing so though I always help steer other patrons away from the fakes. I figure I’m doing a service.

 

I spent way too much money at the Denver show this year, as I always do. There are some great fossil dealers there who I always buy from and have become friends with, but I generally don’t deal with anyone who isn’t a US-based seller for large purchases. Besides, the market is so over-saturated with Moroccan fossils that most of them bore me at this point.

[Opabinia Blues]

Also, OP, I too am in the Denver area and have the paleontology scene pretty well scoped out. Let me know if you want to come collecting with me sometime.

[Opabinia Blues]

9 hours ago, Jared C said:

not to mention the Morrison formation type locality isn't very far...

It’s very difficult to find private land to hunt Morrison on the eastern slope. Trust me, I’ve tried long and hard.