Spinosaur teeth

[G.Blaickner]

Today I went to a pretty famous and professional fossil shop in the UK, which had a quite big collection of various fossils. To my supprise, they also had a number of dinosaur teeth, including species such as Carcharodontosaurus, some Tyrannosaurids such as Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus, as well as several teeth of Suchomimus and Spinosaurus. Especially the teeth of the latter were actually not as expansive. [prices removed as per forum rules - staff]

 

Now, I have to admit that I am a bit sceptic. When I look on the wikipedia page of Spinosaurus, I read that only a handfull (namely 6) partially complete  individuals have ever been found. Furthermore, they list a number of other known specismens, which "consist mainly of very fragmentary remains and scattered teeth". However, when I google, I see that spinosaurus teeth are not only available in this little shop I went today, but apparently can also be bought online, in hundreds of different places (amazon, ebay, etc). They are literally everywhere and very abundant. So how is this possible?

 

Some possibilities:

1) Teeths are indeed very common and wikipedia just refers to fossils in which also parts of the bones have been found.

2) All these teeths one can buy are actually just "prints" (like gibbs prints or whatever) and it is simply assumed to be so clear that it is not mentioned in the shops/online markets.

3) Most of them are fake (although I don't believe this, since the shop in which I found some of them was quite well-known and professional). 

Edited January 20 by Kane

[Phos_01]

19 minutes ago, G.Blaickner said:

Carcharodontosaurus, some Tyrannosaurids such as Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus, as well as several teeth of Suchomimus and Spinosaurus

All these teeth are pretty common. And they can indeed found in several shops or online vendors. However as you progress as a collector only very few teeth or fossils are in excellent shape. Finding a perfectly preserved one unrestored is very rare. Some things also make it ever rarer, the size; being rooted etc. 
 

There is no reason to cast Spinosaurid teeth as they are pretty common. However what happens in many cases for big teeth that they are restored, glued, mixed together with other parts of stone or teeth to enhance the size. This can easily been seen as you get more experienced. 
 

for me personally these are the most inportant aspects:

- species

- preservation

- size

 

[North]

Dinosaurs like spinosaurus shed their teeth, so those are quite common.

 

Problem with studying the animal, you need more complete specimens that you can connect to the animal. This means animal needed to die and its remains managed to survive and be fossilised. What is more rare and difficult.

[BirdsAreDinosaurs]

When I first discovered how common and cheap Spino-teeth were, I could also hardly believe it, but it is true.

 

Besides the fact that dinosaurs shed their teeth, the region where these teeth are found has had a very active past, geologically speaking. This means that it is rare to find associated remains of a single animal or large intact fossils. Everything has just been jumbled up.

[BirdsAreDinosaurs]

Also, teeth are pretty robust thanks to their enamel, which is a pretty hard material, so more likely to survive the ages.