Repaired Teeth
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The sellers are getting much better in disguising their repairs to teeth.  Some of the fossils we are getting, particularly from South America, have almost perfect repair jobs - we send them back.  A huge percentage of the teeth currently being shipped from Morocco have had their roots repaired.  It takes a trained professional to spot some of the glued breaks.

There are buyers who do not mind buying repaired fossils but our point is that all buyers should have the option.  We do not sell broken and repaired teeth but sellers who do should plainly state that this is the case. 

Things to watch out for are cracks or discolorations in the root that are at unnatural angles to the normal stress cracking and indicate that the root ear has been re-attached or the tooth was broken in half.  Other repairs show up as cracks in the enamel that go all the way out to an edge on both side of the tooth.  This is a dead give-away that the tooth has been broken and repaired.  Another thing to look for is different color of the root or blade indicating different exposure to the elements for pieces of the tooth.

Stabilized Teeth
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Many land-found teeth have brittle or "chalky" roots.  Examples are South American desert teeth, teeth from Sharktooth Hill, CA; Lee Creek, NC and Summerville, SC.   Some collectors or sellers will apply a hardener to these teeth.  Be very careful buying teeth that have been "stabilized" or "solidified".  Smart collectors know that "stabilized" teeth will yellow out and flake after awhile.  If you ever want to sell a tooth like this you will find that it is not as valuable as one that has not been "altered".  Also see "Teeth with Matrix" below.

Restored Teeth
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Most of our WebSite visitors know our views on restored teeth.  Click on:      Restoration      to learn more.
Play it safe. Get a statement from the seller that his teeth are not restored, repaired, oiled, varnished, waxed, painted, glued or preserved in any manner.  The value of a tooth treated in this manner is greatly diminished and they are HARD TO RESELL IF THE POTENTIAL BUYER KNOWS THAT THEY HAVE BEEN ALTERED.

Teeth With Matrix Attached
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You can take this to the bank - fossil shark teeth with matrix attached are worth less than "clean" teeth.  We have been selling fossil shark teeth since 1978.  We have hundreds of customers and wholesale dealers and know only 3 or 4 customers who buy 1 or 2 matrix teeth.  If you are one of these people - mail us.  We will be glad to glue a chunk of rock on to one side of a tooth to sell you.  Think about it this way, would you buy a tooth from us if we painted over part of one side so that you could not see the tooth underneath?

MegMawL does not sell South American teeth with MATRIX attached.  Ever wonder why some Chilean teeth are for sale with the "Bonus" of having matrix stuck on one side?  It's because the finder poured stabilizer (a glue-like adhesive) all over the deteriorating tooth and some ran down into the ground underneath the tooth.  The excess glue attaches the dirt and rocks underneath and is almost impossible to remove without destroying the tooth.    Now you know!

Some dealers will try to convince you that this material and glue can easily be removed with a solvent - "I could remove the matrix using simple solvents available at any drugstore".  Unfortunately this is not the case with many solvents.  Here is a quote from one glue manufacturer's website - "There are no known solvents for this glue so please use caution when gluing.  Once the glue is dry it can only be removed by chisel, scraper or sandpaper."  It is never safe to ignore the facts.

One dealer we know paid BIG BUCKS for a huge megalodon tooth from Chile that had matrix attached to the display side.  After being on his webpage for a couple of years he decided that the only way it would sell would be for him to remove the matrix.  He had the best lab equipment - microblasters, pneumatic chisels, diamond abrasive bench sanders, Dremel© tools and a cabinet full of chemicals.  He first used hydrochloric acid but found that the matrix was not a carbonate and the acid did not touch it.  He then tried solvents like ethanol, acetone, benzene, xylene and trichloromethane - no luck.  Some of the matrix came off with the bench sander but after destroying two belts amd a section of tooth enamel he started in with the pneumatic chisel.  A large section of matrix came off but took a root tip with it.  After gluing the tip back on he continued.  With the next section that broke loose came most of the bourrelet enamel and 2 long strips of display side blade enamel.  Disgusted, the dealer threw the tooth in some junk under his workbench.  The last time I talked with him he still had the tooth and every time he happened to run across it he got "sick at his stomach".

Dirty Teeth
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Teeth that are not properly cleaned are not as attractive or valuable as cleaned teeth. 

Many Fossil teeth are found in coastal waters or near the mouths of rivers where there is a considerable salt content in the water.  This salt will permeate the root of porous teeth and infiltrate to the interior.  If not properly removed, over the years this salt will gradually leach its way out of the tooth and show up as a white powder discoloration.  The very first thing that we do with the fossils that we have just brought up is put them in a large tub of FRESH, clean, circulating water.  In this tub we add a very small amount of a chemical that lowers the surface tension of the water.  This water is checked for salinity every day, drained and fresh water added until the salt content is less than 35 ppK.

The teeth are then moved to the second of our 7 cleaning stages which prepares the tooth for removing the barnacles, oyster shell and tube worms.  On some teeth this "white stuff" is extremely well attached to pores in the root and many sellers won't go to the trouble to remove every last bit.

Stage 5 of our exclusive cleaning procedure is to remove the dirt in the enamel stress cracks on the blade and bourrelet.  You would be amazed at the difference in appearance this step can bring.

Poor Photographs
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Some sellers provide photos that do not accurately depict the fossil.  The fossil may be improperly illuminated, improperly angled, out of focus or color-challenged.  The fossil could be photographed with a low resolution camera to hide defects.  Ever bought a tooth and when you opened the package thought - "This tooth does not look anything like the tooth I thought I was buying!"?    Read our thoughts on    Imaging    and "Photos of Wet Teeth" below.

Photo of Only One Side
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A major consideration in photographing fossil teeth is whether to show photos of the flat side of a tooth.  It's twice as much work to provide two photos.  Several times a month we hear complaints from customers who have bought shark teeth only to find unexpected problems with the other side of the tooth.  My question to them is "Would you buy a used car from someone who only let you look at one side?"

Photos of Wet Tooth
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New Scam!!!  Some sellers are just now learning what divers have known for a long time.  A fossil tooth is much more attractive when photographed wet.  Of course they can't keep it wet forever so when you receive it the dirt in the root pores and the enamel cracks show up and it is very unattractive compared to the photos of the tooth you thought you were buying.

One seller tries to explain that "teeth (are) sprayed before shipment to draw out salt crystals - repeat monthly 1st year".  This statement is designed to cover the trickery with the photo.  Never buy teeth that are not cleaned properly.  You will have trouble for years to come.  See "DIRTY TEETH" above.

Hyped Characteristics
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All sellers (including us) are justifiably proud of their fossils.  These are amazing objects worthy of Awe and Admiration.  Some people, in order to sell their fossils, go a LITTLE OVERBOARD in praise of some of their products.  Sellers use adjectives like WORLD CLASS, ULTRA RARE, GEM QUALITY, PRISTINE, PERFECT, MUSEUM QUALITY, AAA++, "...the best Megalodon Tooth on the Planet, maybe the Entire Universe!!!!".  Every fossil we have ever seen exhibits some degree of damage so you might want to take statements similar to these with a grain of salt.  Nature rarely makes just one of something so the boasts that accompany some shark teeth are slightly exaggerated.  We plead guilty to some of this but like many other things it's a matter of degree.  We believe that our unique Grading System removes the ambiguity from measuring the quality level of Fossil Shark Teeth.

Seller Credibility:
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There are things you can do to safeguard yourself before your purchase.  Look at the seller's overall website.  Does he spell "meglaodon" or "ariculatis" correctly?  Does he know what the fossil is and is it correctly identified?  Does he know the bare details about when the animal lived and where and for how long?  Will he be able to give you the details on the fossil?  (See next item.)  What kind of Warranty does he offer?  Does he photograph both sides of the tooth?  Does he grade his teeth?  Does he measure and weigh his teeth accurately?  How long has he been in business?  Sellers come and go when they find out you can not make a living selling fossils.  Some of us tend to "eat our profits".  MegMawL has never made a cent of profit in this business, preferring instead to use the money to buy more fossils and in support of Museums and several organizations that promote conservation of sharks.  This brings up the last question:  Does the seller sell Modern Shark Teeth?  If so his greed is contributing to the demise of these wonderful creatures.  Scientists agree that there is a high probability that the Great White Shark will soon be as extinct as the megalodon.

Incomplete Information
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Ever watch Antiques Road Show?  The antiques are much more valuable if their "Provenance" is known.  Most of our retail fossils come with complete details on the:
1.)     Taxonomical Information  (Genus, Species, etc.)
2.)     Geological Time in Which the Animal Lived
3.)     Our Inventory Number
4.)     Slant Height - in Inches and Millimeters
5.)     Width - in Inches and Millimeters
6.)     Weight - in Ounces and Grams
7.)     Description - Good and Bad Characteristics
8.)     Grade
9.)     Where The Fossil Was Found
10.)    Geological Formation the Fossil Came From
11.)    Fossil Age
12.)    When The Fossil Was Found

Teeth Availability
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We are going to let you in on a secret that many fossil sellers do not want you to know.  Some sellers claim that most of the fossil shark teeth have been found and you had better buy the ones he has for sale before they are all gone.  This is simply misrepresentation designed to sell teeth.  For every tooth that has been found, there are literally millions that are still waiting to be uncovered.   For more information see the notes at the end of the WebPage:     Fossil Collecting Sites of the Carolinas Coastal Plains   

Rare Location Exhausted
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Many sellers also claim that a certain river has been picked clean of fossils and that there are none left.  Cited examples are the Cooper River in SC and the Meherrin River in NC (what one seller has called the "Copper Site").  Most times the diver has exhausted the easy places and is simply too lazy to look in the more difficult sections of the river bed or dive when the conditions favor finding the newly exposed teeth.   For more information see the notes at the end of the WebPage:     Fossil Collecting Sites of the Carolinas Coastal Plains   

Monster Size All Found
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Some sellers want you to believe that most of the 6" fossil shark teeth have been found and you had better buy the ones he has for sale before they are all gone.  This is another misrepresentation designed to sell teeth.  For every 6" tooth that has been found, there are thousands that are still waiting to be uncovered.   For more information see the notes at the end of the WebPage:     Fossil Collecting Sites of the Carolinas Coastal Plains   

Now you know so -- Beeeeeware!!

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