This applies to arrowheads and shark teeth. Good arrowheads and shark teeth have been claiming stratospheric prices lately. Of course, when that hi$ threshold is met, the crooks ge the wheels rolling to get your money. There are many ebay sellers out there selling repaired or restored shark teeth as natrual teeth. The restored teeth are worth nowhere near what a 100% natural, unaltered one is worth, but they are quite suitable for display ,etc. If the price is right and the fact that they are restored is disclosed.

Restorations are done by many methods. A dental epoxy, polymer compound, plastic resin or hard water putty fill is added and then painted and ground to attempt to match the surrounding areas. The most common restorations are to the tip and edges (the most likely part to be  broken), the next area of concern is the display side enamel which tends to peel away, then might be fill on a missing part of the root (or a large crack) and finally the front (flat) side enamel that is usually  not displayed. Lapidary work of varying degrees is common such as shaping, polishing.

South american and Morrocan teeth are notorious for this unethical practice as are megs over 6" form South Carolina. 3" great white teeth from South America are among the top- they almost always break the root off and the reglue+ fill any missing material. paleocarcharodon from Morroco- just about every one of them has had a piece of the root broken and glued back on with fill for the lost material (miners don't care- they make more $  with restored QUANTITY than taking time to excavate QUALITY).

And we must not forget the PACIFIC megalodons. All of them are either broken, badly worn are altered. No high-quality, collector-grade all-natural Pacific megalodons have ever hit ebay. These teeth are of a hard, durable, almost agate-like, ivory-colored material that takes a hi-polish and can be sharpened down to a needle point without breaking off. On ebay, most Pacific teethWERE broken or badly damaged and simply reshaped on the wheel to a pleasing, but un-natural hard-lined linear shape with a polish that displays quite well. They even fail to put in the serrations, because that would take too much time.

 The fakers are getting really good and often you will need a 10x loupe to detect it. What to look for: go straight for the tip. serrations-they are made with a small file or knife edge and will be hard-lined and linear as opposed to rounded and slightly random natural. Enamel- look for striations (sanding marks, brush strokes); though they polish the compound well, they can't get  all of the corser sanding marks out. Try both hi and lo band UV light in a darkroom- warning: many epoxies, etc. will not flouresce, but others show up like a sore thumb. The FAIL SAFE METHOD TO CONFIRM IT: take a needle and a candle. Heat the needle red hot and probe the suspected area. If it is restored, the needle will SINK into the material, giving off a foul odor as the plasric burns. The needle will not affect a natural tooth.

Look at supicious auctions. Email other buyers. Avoid any one-day auctions. Never buy anything with blurry photos or areas that are not visible in any of the photos. Never buy if they refuse to send additional requested photos. Watch out for stories+lies. Common ones such as , 'paw found this on the farm' , ' Ifound it while diggin' a basement', 'some kid needed money , so I bought 'em to help him out', ' a friend needed money to cover medical costs', etc., etc. are quite plentiful. For some reason, it is VERY COMMON for crooks to think they have a better chance on ebay pulling a scam by PLEADING STUPIDITY and using playing dumb as an excuse to avoid the truth- thus executing the scam and dissappearing like smoke. Watch for contradictions in the story through subsequent emails. save all emails until the transactions satifactorily over. w w w dot fakeartifacts dot com has a comprehensive list of good and bad sellers + examples and explanations of fakes bought on ebay.