Let me just start by saying the topic of "Restorations" is a little bit of a taboo topic among fossil dealers/sellers. Why? Ahh...it's just one of those things where so many sellers do it...some more than others...and hence by discussing it and bringing the topic out in the open...your just simply going to step on a lot of toes.
Do I care? No, I do not...so let's get started.
The picture above is just one small example of what you could possibly be purchasing with a restored tooth. Yesterday morning I rolled out of bed and saw the above posting on my Facebook feed and hence I decided to write this blog. I don't honestly think there is anything I can say in this blog that is going to be more revealing than the before and after pictures ...but let's try to do our best anyway.
This blog post is going to be coming at you in a two part series.
Part 1: Should I buy a Restored Fossil?
and
Part 2: How to Spot Repairs and Restorations (coming soon!)
The answer to the first question and the topic of this blog is both "Yes & No."
Yes, if you can answer YES to the following questions.
1) Do I consider myself very knowledgable about fossils?
2) Do I know exactly what I am purchasing and if not...do I FULLY TRUST the seller?
IF the answer is "No" to either of these questions than I would not only walk away from a Restored fossil but I would run..and I don't mean a medium jog but a full out Olympic sprint...away from Restored fossils.
And let's just get this next fact out of the way. Restored fossils is where the overwhelming highest profit percentage is made. Why you ask? Just look at the original picture above. The seller has taken an almost worthless tooth...added man-made material and sold it for a whopping $610 (see pic below). This is no longer a Megalodon tooth. This is a sculpture of a Megalodon tooth. You are not paying for a fossil anymore. You are paying for this guys time for sculpting you a tooth. In my opinion this tooth could have been sculpted and painted in less than 2 hours, which equals roughly $300 an hour to add some bondo and then paint it. Not a bad gig. And the more fossils become popular and the more money is poured into fossils...the more and more you will see your 9-5 Subway sandwich maker and your soccer mom turning into a professional fossil restorer.
But let's move away from this example and talk more about fossils and restoration as a whole.
Does restoration have its place in the fossil world?
Absolutely.
But these are in places and areas where restoration is needed. I would say just about all the big dinosaurs you see in a museum have extensive restoration done to them. The chances of finding a 100% fully intact huge dinosaur is pretty much non-existent. So they have to fabricate the missing pieces and restore the pieces that are damaged. This is common place and expected.
The same reasoning can be said for some rare locations of Megalodon teeth and other fossils. A six inch Peruvian Megalodon tooth with a missing tip is worth restoring in many cases. Six inch Peruvian Megalodon teeth are so rare that most serious collectors would still be willing to add it to their collection. Why? Because its better than nothing. The pickings are so slim for this size and from this location that restoration to some degree is acceptable.
But the opposite end of the spectrum exists as well. I would say the area right now that is producing the most teeth is off the coast of North Carolina, with South Carolina being a close second. Your run of the mill quality of average size tooth from either of these locations is so reasonably priced right now that why in the world would you buy a restored tooth from here? Teeth from either of these locations are not considered rare...they are not considered hard to obtain...there is no reason to buy a restored tooth from a location when a Natural specimen can be obtained for a reasonable price already. It's not like everyone is seeking out that elusive 4 & 1/2 inch Meg from South Carolina. You can find those for sale every single day of the week. The same can not be said for teeth from Peru or Chile.
It's like restoring the Mona Lisa versus a painting from Wal-Mart. One is so rare it would probably be worth restoring over time...one is so plentiful...it would make no sense.
Also, restoration is often used to "stretch" a tooth and by this I mean to make it bigger. The tip is busted off...instead of adding half an inch the restorer adds a full inch. Little root erosion...let's add another inch here. Pretty soon you have a tooth that was lucky to be 5 inches in its natural state being sold as a 6 & 1/2 incher. Why? Because this is where the money is. This is where the opportunity presents itself to take advantage. You mean to tell me the picture example above is not predatory? Of course it is. This seller is not trying to do honest restoration...he is here to PREY.
And we all know anytime money gets involved that ethics and morality often get put to the side.
So without making this blog a ten page rant....here is my advice.
Unless you have a great deal of knowledge about buying fossils or you trust the word of the fossil dealer absolutely 100%(including me) than stay away from restored teeth altogether. If you want to buy one anyway. Try and stay away from a tooth where either the tip or the root lobe(s) have been restored. This is where the greatest potential to stretch the tooth comes into play. If they don't mention where the restoration has taken place...stay away.
Lastly, look very closely at the pictures. If you think you can see the restoration in the pictures...stay away from it. I have been doing this fossil thing for a very long time and I only know of 3 individuals that I would consider to even be "acceptable" restorers. But I know another dozen or more that are terrible at it but that doesn't stop them from pumping out teeth left and right. The only thing worse than buying a restored tooth is buying a terribly done restored tooth.
And last but certainly not least....ask yourself, "Is this a restored tooth I am buying or a sculptor? If you don't know the answer to that question with 100% certainty ....lace up your track shoes.
Comments
12 comments
Zarim Gotango
Tnx for the blog… very interesting and very helpful.
Lee Stanley
Very good blog. It will open the eyes of the collectors to have the knowledge about their collections.
Appreciate your blog! Great job
Robbie Stewart
Wow I was really surprised how the picture restored tooth looks amazing, they did a great job, but I hope the seller will be honest about it. For me, the real one is the best :)
Thanks for the information, I appreciate it. Very helpful for any future purchases.
Michael David
I believe with this blog and for me, it’s up to the buyers, collectors if they want to buy restored tooth or not, but most sellers don’t want to tell that the fossils are restored.. which is not good at all. I believe some will be a very good restoration and nothing wrong with That, but ofcourse as a collector, I want to know if the prices is worth it and if I want restored tooth or Not.
Very helpful blog… thanks
Steven Raine
This article and the other article on how to spot restoration is exactly the information collectors need and not just for new collectors. I wish this information had been available when I started to collect as like most collectors I got done on a restored tooth.
It is up to the individual if they want a restored tooth that can-be a bit more eye pleasing and cheaper, or a natural tooth. However, the buyer needs to be aware of the restoration in the first place and nobody wants to be ripped off and pay full price for something that is essentially partly fake. Unfortunately some sellers leave out the restoration in the description, play it down, charge way over the top or don’t even genuinely know about it.
My personal choice is buy natural, the best quality and size my budget will allow. I just don’t want restored teeth in my collection. I would rather have a small natural tooth than a large restored one for the same price, but at the end of the day it’s up to the individual collector.
My advice for anyone starting out is only buy from dealers that have a good reputation and are recommended by seasoned collectors. Sure you can buy cheaper from an individual, but, it’s a big risk and a lot of the time the seller is not an expert and would not know a restored tooth from a natural one.
I don’t need to be an expert as I only buy from three trusted dealers and Garry is one of them.
Great articles Garry and on behalf of all collectors thank you for sharing this information.
Fred Tesch
I was really surprised, and very pleased to get exactly what I was looking at on your website pictures. It’s nice to find someone that’s honest, and selling exactly what they’re posting, thank you!
Bob Hallett
Well, It’s been a week since I’ve checked my e-mails, getting tedious, ha, but I saw this Garry Dye blog, and it was the one I did not immediately delete. The subject of the restoration of fossils and artifacts is very interesting. I have an extensive background in Indian projectile points, much more so than sharks teeth, which has become my newer passion in the last 7-8 years, for reasons some may be aware of……. but I still love the points. Anyway, the first thing that I thought of when I saw this horrid before and after photo was, what a good friend and spear point restoration guru always told me, Dr. G, lets call him. He says “Bob” I will never restore a point that needs more than 50% restoration. The reasoning is obvious, refer to Garry’s sculpture comment. I have had a couple of points restored (small restorations), and a good example of what I considered a good reason to have my first point repaired is as follows: A good friend and myself were surface hunting a construction site near Bayonet Point, he found the first point, and as it turns out, the best one fount on that site after 10-12 hunts. So, he takes this beautiful, perfect, white coral Newnan, and puts it on a necklace, against my best advice, as this was a display piece to the max. So, a week later he gets drunk, necklace breaks, Newnan hits the deck, the tip and both ears break off. When he tells me the bad news, he coughs up this spear point based on stupidity. Around this time I learned of Dr. G in Gainesville, sent the broken baby to him, he sent it back, just like it was before. This take is not a tooth story, but hopefully, the rational comes across. There are many reasons one may want a personally found tooth restored, or purchase a restored tooth, but please, let’s not buy sculptures.
Stuart Strife
Unfortunately, restoration is common place in the fossil world, and as pointed out, is required particularly with larger specimens. I personally avoid restoration at all times, although I am sure there is a tooth in my collection that I don’t know was restored. My solution is to buy from only those dealers who I have the utmost trust in. For years now I have only dealt with Garry and two other individuals. While I monitor a lot of sites, I avoid buying from anyone other than these individuals who I consider to be moral and ethical in their business approach. I am sure there are other dealers out there who fit this bill, but until I can gain confidence in them, I’ll stick with those who I know are honest and “straight shooters.”
Steven Niklaus
Been there just when I started collecting fossils and started buying on ebay here in Germany, where I live. I bought a 5 inch Meg tooth of a german ebay trader that had posted his item as a tooth “with small restorations”. As a newbie I went for it. At first I was incredibly happy, after all it was my very first Meg… soon I noticed that the tooth felt sort of sticky to the touch, as if there was some sort of wax covering it. At work I gave it a short rub down with some paint thinner and a rag. Immediately the sculpted parts revealed themselves. Half of the etire tooth werw made up from Super Sculpey modelling clay. I packed it up and sent it back saying that I had payed for a tooth with small restorations and not a 50% rebuilt one. I demanded a refund. He didn’t agree, saying I had ruined a tooth in such a way that he would never be able to restore it and resell it. I didn’t get a refund but left some nice comments on the seller evaluation section on his ebay shop. He’s not come back with new teeth on ebay so far. Then a serious ebay seller has given me Garry’s ebay shop adress and Investment Fossils website adress. Since then, I come here when I want something special. - Cheers!!! Steven from Munich
Ian Primosch
Garry,
Appreciate the insight. As a relatively new collector, I am very thankful there are people like you who can steer us away from potential pitfalls. The pictures from this blog made my heart sink.
Louis Stieffel
I think you hit the nail on the head! Yes, there is a time and place to buy restored fossils, but many times it is better to wait for the real thing. I think I know who this seller is, and he’s been getting more prolific with his offerings. If his initials are M.B. and he’s for MASS., then it’s the guy.
A bigger issue, I feel, is that the fossil in question will not remain in the buyers possession forever, so somewhere down the road it goes to another collector. Chances are that any restoration info will be lost in the transaction, so now you have a restored tooth out there, in a collection, mislabeled and starting the fraud process. It will forever be passed along as totally real, until someone spots it, calls it out and then—what??? It wont go away, folks.
Perhaps the best thing, in almost EVERY instance, is to not be a customer of a restored fossil,unless it’s an obvious restoration. But, restored fossils will be added to collections, whether wittingly or not.
There are fakes in almost every hobby. Antiques are real bad for that. And even coins are altered, and collectable dolls, trains, stamps, hot wheels, beanie babies, etc. Just look at Ebay for your selection of GENUINE Pre-Columbian pottery, at prices of $10-$50!! It’s the best thing that’s happened to preservation of Mayan tombs, etc,! The prices have been downgraded by the fakes, as well as the collector belief that hardly anything can be real!
I don’t think there is a good solution, besides education, (which the average collector will not have), but perhaps another reader has one.
Michael Patton
Thanks Garry for this enlightening post. Very helpful for any future purchases.
Comments
12 comments
Zarim Gotango
Tnx for the blog… very interesting and very helpful.
Lee Stanley
Very good blog. It will open the eyes of the collectors to have the knowledge about their collections.
Appreciate your blog! Great job
Robbie Stewart
Wow I was really surprised how the picture restored tooth looks amazing, they did a great job, but I hope the seller will be honest about it. For me, the real one is the best :)
Thanks for the information, I appreciate it. Very helpful for any future purchases.
Michael David
I believe with this blog and for me, it’s up to the buyers, collectors if they want to buy restored tooth or not, but most sellers don’t want to tell that the fossils are restored.. which is not good at all. I believe some will be a very good restoration and nothing wrong with That, but ofcourse as a collector, I want to know if the prices is worth it and if I want restored tooth or Not.
Very helpful blog… thanks
Steven Raine
This article and the other article on how to spot restoration is exactly the information collectors need and not just for new collectors. I wish this information had been available when I started to collect as like most collectors I got done on a restored tooth.
It is up to the individual if they want a restored tooth that can-be a bit more eye pleasing and cheaper, or a natural tooth. However, the buyer needs to be aware of the restoration in the first place and nobody wants to be ripped off and pay full price for something that is essentially partly fake. Unfortunately some sellers leave out the restoration in the description, play it down, charge way over the top or don’t even genuinely know about it.
My personal choice is buy natural, the best quality and size my budget will allow. I just don’t want restored teeth in my collection. I would rather have a small natural tooth than a large restored one for the same price, but at the end of the day it’s up to the individual collector.
My advice for anyone starting out is only buy from dealers that have a good reputation and are recommended by seasoned collectors. Sure you can buy cheaper from an individual, but, it’s a big risk and a lot of the time the seller is not an expert and would not know a restored tooth from a natural one.
I don’t need to be an expert as I only buy from three trusted dealers and Garry is one of them.
Great articles Garry and on behalf of all collectors thank you for sharing this information.
Fred Tesch
I was really surprised, and very pleased to get exactly what I was looking at on your website pictures. It’s nice to find someone that’s honest, and selling exactly what they’re posting, thank you!
Bob Hallett
Well, It’s been a week since I’ve checked my e-mails, getting tedious, ha, but I saw this Garry Dye blog, and it was the one I did not immediately delete. The subject of the restoration of fossils and artifacts is very interesting. I have an extensive background in Indian projectile points, much more so than sharks teeth, which has become my newer passion in the last 7-8 years, for reasons some may be aware of……. but I still love the points. Anyway, the first thing that I thought of when I saw this horrid before and after photo was, what a good friend and spear point restoration guru always told me, Dr. G, lets call him. He says “Bob” I will never restore a point that needs more than 50% restoration. The reasoning is obvious, refer to Garry’s sculpture comment. I have had a couple of points restored (small restorations), and a good example of what I considered a good reason to have my first point repaired is as follows: A good friend and myself were surface hunting a construction site near Bayonet Point, he found the first point, and as it turns out, the best one fount on that site after 10-12 hunts. So, he takes this beautiful, perfect, white coral Newnan, and puts it on a necklace, against my best advice, as this was a display piece to the max. So, a week later he gets drunk, necklace breaks, Newnan hits the deck, the tip and both ears break off. When he tells me the bad news, he coughs up this spear point based on stupidity. Around this time I learned of Dr. G in Gainesville, sent the broken baby to him, he sent it back, just like it was before. This take is not a tooth story, but hopefully, the rational comes across. There are many reasons one may want a personally found tooth restored, or purchase a restored tooth, but please, let’s not buy sculptures.
Stuart Strife
Unfortunately, restoration is common place in the fossil world, and as pointed out, is required particularly with larger specimens. I personally avoid restoration at all times, although I am sure there is a tooth in my collection that I don’t know was restored. My solution is to buy from only those dealers who I have the utmost trust in. For years now I have only dealt with Garry and two other individuals. While I monitor a lot of sites, I avoid buying from anyone other than these individuals who I consider to be moral and ethical in their business approach. I am sure there are other dealers out there who fit this bill, but until I can gain confidence in them, I’ll stick with those who I know are honest and “straight shooters.”
Steven Niklaus
Been there just when I started collecting fossils and started buying on ebay here in Germany, where I live. I bought a 5 inch Meg tooth of a german ebay trader that had posted his item as a tooth “with small restorations”. As a newbie I went for it. At first I was incredibly happy, after all it was my very first Meg… soon I noticed that the tooth felt sort of sticky to the touch, as if there was some sort of wax covering it. At work I gave it a short rub down with some paint thinner and a rag. Immediately the sculpted parts revealed themselves. Half of the etire tooth werw made up from Super Sculpey modelling clay. I packed it up and sent it back saying that I had payed for a tooth with small restorations and not a 50% rebuilt one. I demanded a refund. He didn’t agree, saying I had ruined a tooth in such a way that he would never be able to restore it and resell it. I didn’t get a refund but left some nice comments on the seller evaluation section on his ebay shop. He’s not come back with new teeth on ebay so far. Then a serious ebay seller has given me Garry’s ebay shop adress and Investment Fossils website adress. Since then, I come here when I want something special. - Cheers!!! Steven from Munich
Ian Primosch
Garry,
Appreciate the insight. As a relatively new collector, I am very thankful there are people like you who can steer us away from potential pitfalls. The pictures from this blog made my heart sink.
Louis Stieffel
I think you hit the nail on the head! Yes, there is a time and place to buy restored fossils, but many times it is better to wait for the real thing. I think I know who this seller is, and he’s been getting more prolific with his offerings. If his initials are M.B. and he’s for MASS., then it’s the guy.
A bigger issue, I feel, is that the fossil in question will not remain in the buyers possession forever, so somewhere down the road it goes to another collector. Chances are that any restoration info will be lost in the transaction, so now you have a restored tooth out there, in a collection, mislabeled and starting the fraud process. It will forever be passed along as totally real, until someone spots it, calls it out and then—what??? It wont go away, folks.
Perhaps the best thing, in almost EVERY instance, is to not be a customer of a restored fossil,unless it’s an obvious restoration. But, restored fossils will be added to collections, whether wittingly or not.
There are fakes in almost every hobby. Antiques are real bad for that. And even coins are altered, and collectable dolls, trains, stamps, hot wheels, beanie babies, etc. Just look at Ebay for your selection of GENUINE Pre-Columbian pottery, at prices of $10-$50!! It’s the best thing that’s happened to preservation of Mayan tombs, etc,! The prices have been downgraded by the fakes, as well as the collector belief that hardly anything can be real!
I don’t think there is a good solution, besides education, (which the average collector will not have), but perhaps another reader has one.
Michael Patton
Thanks Garry for this enlightening post. Very helpful for any future purchases.