fossil identification while shopping

[thereptileguy5432]

I live in morocco and everytime i got to Marrakech,i would go buy fossils from shops and i always recognize 50 percent of the time if it's fake or real but that is the problem,i can never know if it's real or false with teeth and i was just wandering if anyone knows a way to identify a fossil while buying it and not seem suspicious to the seller.

And also this is a tooth i bought last week of the mosasaurus family.the mesurement is in cm.

 

[FB003]

Biggest flag to me.. if the seller gets offended because you are looking into an item as a buyer and they start to consider a buyer suspicious for asking questions and looking at the details, best to move on.  Good sellers encourage it in my experience and there are tons of teeth out there. The best thing I would recommend is to look through the Is It Real section.  Tons of Morocco fossils in there. Especially teeth and claws.

[-Andy-]

On 9/29/2023 at 6:44 AM, thereptileguy5432 said:

I live in morocco and everytime i got to Marrakech,i would go buy fossils from shops and i always recognize 50 percent of the time if it's fake or real but that is the problem,i can never know if it's real or false with teeth and i was just wandering if anyone knows a way to identify a fossil while buying it and not seem suspicious to the seller.

And also this is a tooth i bought last week of the mosasaurus family.the mesurement is in cm.

 

 

There is no magic way to identify fossils without looking "suspicious" because some sellers simply are on high alert for reasons of their own. Even a very experienced collector might need to ask basic questions like "Can I know the locality and formation?" or "Was this restored in any way?"

 

This mosasaur tooth in question looks okay to me, though we need additional pics to tell if the tip is original

 

On 9/29/2023 at 7:15 AM, FB003 said:

Biggest flag to me.. if the seller gets offended because you are looking into an item as a buyer and they start to consider a buyer suspicious for asking questions and looking at the details, best to move on.  Good sellers encourage it in my experience and there are tons of teeth out there. The best thing I would recommend is to look through the Is It Real section.  Tons of Morocco fossils in there. Especially teeth and claws.

 

Let me offer an alternate opinion. It depends on how many questions you ask, and the nature of your questions

 

If a seller was selling a low value item (e.g. below 20 USD), and is unwilling to entertain questions, the seller might be dealing with a high volume of such fossils and thus, have no time to entertain questions, or the seller simply doesn't care enough since it's a low value fossil

 

If a seller was selling a high value item (e.g. over 200 USD), then it depends on the nature of your questions

 

Asking for more pics and a video? Maybe even a pic of the fossil in UV light? Reasonable to me

 

Asking for 50 pictures + 10 videos of the fossil from different angles? It better be a very expensive fossil, or the seller is unlikely to entertain you

 

Asking the seller where the item was from? E.g. the locality and formation? Reasonable to me

 

Asking the seller for the source? It depends. Some sellers are protective of their sources and would refuse to entertain such questions. Others would be willing to divulge that info, especially if the source is famous for legit fossils

 

Of course it also comes down to the seller's personality. I've met a seller who was grumpy irl, and was unwilling to entertain more than a couple of questions. "You don't trust me? Move on." In all my dealings with him however, he has never once sold me a bad fossil. Obviously his personality hurts his ability to sell fossils, but my point is that some sellers simply are like this

[Tidgy's Dad]

I have lived in Morocco for eighteen years. 

In my experience sellers don't like it if you call their fossils fakes, though they will often admit to composites and lower their starting price accordingly. 

Life is easier if you speak French or especially Darija or Amazigh. 

But I've never had one that has minded me picking up a fossil and examining it in detail with a jeweller's loupe. 

 

Hello, and a very warm welcome to TFF from Fes! 

[thereptileguy5432]

9 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I have lived in Morocco for eighteen years. 

In my experience sellers don't like it if you call their fossils fakes, though they will often admit to composites and lower their starting price accordingly. 

Life is easier if you speak French or especially Darija or Amazigh. 

But I've never had one that has minded me picking up a fossil and examining it in detail with a jeweller's loupe. 

 

Hello, and a very warm welcome to TFF from Fes! 

firstly hi from casablanca and thanks for the welcoming and secondly i normally let my dad's friends try to lower price exponentially like one time i got a fossil that was worth 300 dh into only 60 dh and normally if i speak french they will start thinking im a tourist even do my dad is literally speaking arabic and they just try their best like making you feel sad but my best is when i ask someone that works there if they know anyone that sells fossils and i follow them.And all the time i always get a hidden good seller like i got this mosasaurus tooth fossil and a long Enchodus tooth for only 15 dollars.