Very very bad fake fossils that make you smile...

[LauraMedea]

Hi everybody! Here some pics of a poor fake trilobite that is so bad done that make me feel like an expert in recognizing them even if I'm ignorant. I found it in auction...I don't understand why the expert paleontologists at the auction who have to evaluate and estimate the object don't notice the scam, estimating absurd prices on it, also considering that this is a rather common trilobite fake. When in an article or in a documentary somebody talk about fake trilobites, exactly these appear as an example. Please tell me that I'm the one who's wrong and that this is a better world.

 

[Kane]

Perhaps the paleontologists are not specialized in trilobites. And are you certain the auction house did indeed retain the services of a credentialed paleontologist? The fact you mention them in the plural is odd, as why would they require multiple people specialized in this field, and are they that easy to round up when they are not exceedingly busy with other duties?   

[daves64]

14 minutes ago, Kane said:

And are you certain the auction house did indeed retain the services of a credentialed paleontologist? 

Maybe he got his credentials out of a box of Crackerjacks that had been purchased used off of a certain online auction site. With the required CoA of course. 

Edited July 13 by daves64

[Brevicollis]

1 hour ago, Kane said:

Perhaps the paleontologists are not specialized in trilobites

Not only trilobites, literally everything on that particular online auction site....

 

I think everyone who ever bought something from there or even was scrolling throug their fossils would agree.

Take this "real" Spinosaurus toe as an example. The price estimated by the "professional paleontologists" and "experts" is insanely high, even tho my classmates who have ZERO experience with fossils think its fake. Clearly visible tool marks, work clues, and random bone fragments that clearly dont belong there, and and and...

 

Trust me, when I'll show every really bad or completly fake fossil currently from this online auction site, this thread probably will be 3-4 pages long ,closed, I'll get some trouble,...., and that should mean something....

Edited July 13 by Brevicollis

[LauraMedea]

35 minutes ago, Kane said:

Perhaps the paleontologists are not specialized in trilobites. And are you certain the auction house did indeed retain the services of a credentialed paleontologist? The fact you mention them in the plural is odd, as why would they require multiple people specialized in this field, and are they that easy to round up when they are not exceedingly busy with other duties?   

In the presentation of the experts who analyze the objects on auction in the "archaeology" section, they talk about professionals in the sector with decades of experience in fossils, paleontology and geology...Each auction category has its own team of experts in a certain subject and deals only with that...or so they say

[Kane]

Something definitely smells fishy about their claims, and I am thinking this auction house is not exactly Sothebys.  

A big red flag is if they lump geology and paleontology under archaeology. 

 

[Brevicollis]

1 minute ago, Kane said:

A big red flag is if they lump geology and paleontology under archaeology. 

They do so....

[Brevicollis]

Another trilobite from there. Maybe has bits of a real one in it, but this mostly is definetly added or fake...

[LauraMedea]

2 minutes ago, Kane said:

Something definitely smells fishy about their claims, and I am thinking this auction house is not exactly Sothebys.  

A big red flag is if they lump geology and paleontology under archaeology. 

 

Exactly, it's not the first obviously fake "fossil" that I've seen being sold, and I don't understand anything about it, so that's it... but it makes me angry that, as in this case, in the description of the object it is specified that the fossil is 100% natural without reconstructions or coloring and is estimated at a very  high price considering that it is obviously a fake and buyers can fall for it trusting in the "expert". Last week they sold a fake Spinosaurus claw for more than a thousand euros... absurd...

[Kane]

Ah, a classic likely coming out of the mass production of souvenirs in Erfoud. These are quite commonly clay casted. 

[Kane]

10 minutes ago, LauraMedea said:

Exactly, it's not the first obviously fake "fossil" that I've seen being sold, and I don't understand anything about it, so that's it... but it makes me angry that, as in this case, in the description of the object it is specified that the fossil is 100% natural without reconstructions or coloring and is estimated at a very  high price considering that it is obviously a fake and buyers can fall for it trusting in the "expert". Last week they sold a fake Spinosaurus claw for more than a thousand euros... absurd...

Possibly attributed to P.T. Barnum (although evidence is scant): "a sucker is born every minute." The sad reality is that many people are gulled by false claims on false fossils. Even on the most popular online auction site there is much skulduggery. The auction house does not police offerings unless they are in violation of their terms of service (human parts, illegal drugs, etc.). Trying to set the world to rights in a spirit of justice to stop the trade in fake fossils is like playing Whack-a-Mole. There is no international "better business bureau" that can exert authority to prevent it.

 

The only solution is for people to do their research, and in places like this to post specimens for opinion prior to buying. The phrase caveat emptor is as true now as it has always been.

 

For good reason, we don't allow naming and shaming as it would open up the forum to legal challenges. I am reminded of a noble effort by an academic to name and shame fake academic journals that promised rapid peer review and publication (for a per page fee). He ran a blog called Editors and Predators or some-such. These bogus journals preyed on early career academics trying to secure tenure by plumping up their publication record. In any event, the person who did this service was sued. 

[Brevicollis]

"Minor reparations"

[Kane]

I will ask our members to kindly not post seller verbiage or prices.

[Brevicollis]

When I see things like this, price estimates like this, and descriptions like this, I dont know if I should feel angry, sad, smart, or amazed by how bad it is 

[Brevicollis]

1 minute ago, Kane said:

not post seller verbiage or prices.

Sorry Kane, I forgot.

Will not happen again.

Sorry

[Kane]

1 minute ago, Brevicollis said:

When I see things like this, price estimates like this, and descriptions like this, I dont know if I should feel angry, sad, smart, or amazed by how bad it is 

Just walk away. This is not a fight anyone can win.  

[Fossildude19]

The bottom line is that the Buyer needs to Beware.

 

Do your research, and learn the difference between fake fossils and real fossils, BEFORE you make a purchase. .

 

Topic is now locked.

[LauraMedea]

10 minutes ago, Kane said:

Possibly attributed to P.T. Barnum (although evidence is scant): "a sucker is born every minute." The sad reality is that many people are gulled by false claims on false fossils. Even on the most popular online auction site there is much skulduggery. The auction house does not police offerings unless they are in violation of their terms of service (human parts, illegal drugs, etc.). Trying to set the world to rights in a spirit of justice to stop the trade in fake fossils is like playing Whack-a-Mole. There is no international "better business bureau" that can exert authority to prevent it.

 

The only solution is for people to do their research, and in places like this to post specimens for opinion prior to buying. The phrase caveat emptor is as true now as it has always been.

 

For good reason, we don't allow naming and shaming as it would open up the forum to legal challenges. I am reminded of a noble effort by an academic to name and shame fake academic journals that promised rapid peer review and publication (for a per page fee). He ran a blog called Editors and Predators or some-such. These bogus journals preyed on early career academics trying to secure tenure by plumping up their publication record. In any event, the person who did this service was sued. 

Unfortunately it's all sadly true, I just hope that those who enter in this wonderful world of fossils don't immediately get huge scams and become discouraged about it. I have now found you on this forum and I will obsess you with my questions about the authenticity of what I intend to buy, as well as trying to inform myself and learn to recognize them. Regarding scientific academic journals, I also know that there were some brave warriors who, to show how that system work, published research by randomly inserting absurdly trashy or non-existent names and terms into them to demonstrate that they were not even read/checked before being published. ....