TRILOBITES FAKES

Evolution in Moroccan fakes - from simple casts to imitations of matrix

The early days of trilobite fakes saw Moroccans carving trilobites out of pieces of rock, which sometimes led to very odd results due to the lack of morphological knowledge to produce convincing fakes (see Picture 9-A). In the beginning (and perhaps still today to fool tourists), not only trilobites were reproduced but scorpions and even snakes including zig-zag lines were carved out of and/or into the rock. I have seen huge wheels of ammonites completely fake. Well, maybe the artisan had a good day and turned the piece of rock he was sitting on into a nice huge ammonite - surely he will find a buyer for it.

As already stated, the early fakes of trilobites were very primitive, made of a little plaster or resin and the details formed using a tool of sorts and before the material hardened. At times, this resulted in fantasy trilobites with large numbers of thorax segments or cephalons and pygidia that would not fit and/or were morphologically incorrect. Perhaps the "trilobites" were created out of memory or from bad sketches. The problem, apart form the sometimes ridiculous morphology, was that the border between cast material and real matrix could be easily told. Because of that, the artisans very soon adopted the procedure to cover the whole chunk of rock with a layer of resin or plaster mixed with crumbled rock and perhaps a little color into which the cast trilobite is placed (see Picture 9 B-D). The trilobite is made by casting resin into a negative. The hardened imitation is then placed into the artificial layer, and once the whole construction is hardened, the border line between fake trilobite and fake matrix as well as the line between fake matrix and real rock is covered by extensive preparation gash marks to deceive the unwary eye and cover tiny holes resulting from bursting bubbles of gas in the hardening material. However, these preparation marks are very often way too irregular. After that, the whole creation is painted, often failing to reproduce the right color shades. The whole process of faking the trilobite takes two hours perhaps (excluding the hardening process that can take several hours to complete). A real trilobite, depending on the kind of trilobite and the skill of the artisan prepping it, will take at least 5 hours or more to complete, perfectly prepared specimens may have seen 100 hours or more.

Picture 9: A: fantasy trilobite pretending to be a Phacopida from the early times of trilobite fakes (piece was acquired in 1983). B-D: good reproduction of Odontochile from the Lower Devonian of Morocco, produced 20 years later. Apart from the missing eye detail (lenses) the "trilobite" is morphologically correct and detailed but being cast and fixed onto a layer of resin or plaster on top of real rock. Photo B, bottom right, clearly shows an area of disintegration of the artificial layer from the matrix. Photos C and D show the smooth surface of the eyes, eye detail is missing, there are no lenses as with authentic specimens.

Psychopyge - beloved and frequently faked

This impressive trilobite from the Lower Devonian deposits of Morocco with its strange extension of the cephalon is very popular with collectors and therefore frequently subject to manipulation and fakery. Authentic specimens bear three rows of very fine spines (one row on the axis and one row on each side at the borderline between pleurae and pleural spines). The labor involved preparing these spines is very time-consuming and difficult work and a specimen perfectly prepared will cost a small fortune (4-digit sum in US dollars), but you will get fakes for a several hundred dollars! So, if you are looking for a bargain on a spiny trilobite, be very careful when coming across Psychopyge trilobites! A few years ago, an acquaintance of ours very proudly presented one of these specimens to us and was very disappointed when - after carefully investigating the trilobite under magnification - we had to tell him that it was fake. Because of its bizarre morphology, Psychopyge is also very popular with the general public on websites, at shows and in fossil shops, which may be one reason why this trilobite is frequently found faked in numbers, as mentioned. Cast single pieces with fake or real rock matrix have been selling for years.

When we have a look at the faked Psychopyge in picture 10 below, what we notice is not only the brownish color and the many tiny bubble holes in the resin but the very crude preparation marks. You can tell a good preparator by the way he "cleans up" his workplace, namely the matrix surrounding the finished trilobite. A good preparator will try and give beauty not only to the trilobite but to the matrix as well by evenly roughening it and giving it a nice light color or by carefully blasting it after which it becomes a nice grey. The procedure also increases contrast between the fossil and the matrix. The intention to create something really beautiful is not too common with the people faking trilobites so keep your hands off stuff that does not look good or simply seems "suspicious".

Picture 10: not too good a fake of Psychopyge elegans from the Devonian deposits of Morocco. Just another matrix imitation and a cast trilobite on top, both the trilobite and the underlying matrix were made of resin. A: very suspicious is the brownish-grey color of the trilobite (black would be normal), the surface of the exoskeleton is rough and full of bubble holes. B: magnified view of the cephalon - both eyes and glabella seem to have been somewhat carelessly modeled. C: the resin pleurae have obviously been carved a little, resulting in a sharp-looking appearance, again: note the bubble holes! D. the tail spines seem to have been carved as well with some sharp modeling tool, bubble holes again in both the "trilobite" exoskeleton and the underlying "matrix". Photography: Sonntag (We found this piece from a Moroccan dealer at a German fossil show).

Dicranurus monstrosus - a frequently faked horned trilobite

This trilobite has one of the most bizarre morphologies coming from the Lower Devonian of Morocco. Remarkable are the two very prominent horns on the occipital ring. The trilobite is rare and rather difficult to prepare. At least you cannot prepare this trilobite with simple tools as have been used in Morocco early on. The difficult preparation may be one reason why there are so many fakes floating around, another being that this trilobite usually represents the more expensive kind of fossil. As already mentioned, the crude preparation marks indicate an old-style Moroccan preparation and should already raise a red flag. In many cases, the matrix (or resin with faked trilobites) in between the horns has not been removed (see Pic. 11). If the matrix shows a light brown color and the exoskeleton a shade of brown (straight black would be normal) then chances are you are dealing with a fake specimen.

Like with the other trilobites we discussed the fakes of Dicranurus mostly consist of both the trilobite and a matrix layer being cast from resin or plaster and then glued on top of a chunk of real matrix, the typical "imitated-matrix-fake". Well-prepared GENUINE trilobites of this species frequently show free-standing horns.

Picture 11: A typical Dicranurus monstrosus fake, about 10 cm in length. A cast trilobite and a cast layer of matrix glued onto a chunk of real matrix. 1: frontal view of Dicranurus, clearly visible are the crude prep marks pretending to be the real thing. 2: the pygidium under magnification. Note the circled tiny holes resulting from bursting bubbles of gas during the hardening process. 3: The pleurae have obviously been manipulated using a sharp carving tool, the pleurae looking very sharp, real ones are circular in shape. 4: cephalon under magnification: note the partially removed color from the left horn to prove the fake and reveal the light color of the resin used.

NEXT TO PAGE 5