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Lifetime Authenticity

  

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A beautiful fossil harpes trilobite for sale

  

Certified Authenticity \ Certificates Included

THE FOSSIL STORE™ guarantees a lifetime authenticity guarantee on all our FOSSIL, MINERAL ARTEFACT, and METEORITE products securing lifetimes.

All THE FOSSIL STORE™ products are accompanied with a printed certificate of authenticity document. THE FOSSIL STORE™ COA [certificate of authenticity] guarantees authenticity attributions on your product/s, including;

Origin
Age
Genus or type

An assurance that THE FOSSIL STORE™ has provided an item with a true content that has been illustrated and described. Guaranteeing your product/s is/are genuine and THE FOSSIL STORE™ has provided an authentic item as described.

Certificates \ COA

The COA (Certificate of authenticity) acts as a bond between THE FOSSIL STORE™ (the seller) and you (the client). THE FOSSIL STORE™ guarantees accurate and authentic information, and signed by a representative of THE FOSSIL STORE™.

Restoration + Conservation

Conservation, restoration and repairs. The reality of unearthing a natural specimen is that the vast majority of specimens quite often come out of the ground in multiple sections and require further conservation. THE FOSSIL STORE™ acceptance is 95+ percent, with the majority of our items at 100%.

The ‘general rule’ is an acceptance of a 25% bar on restoration, if approximately or more than 75% of the element is complete, this is then considered an acceptably fair specimen with conservation.

For a correlation of this rule and when considering Museum collections, particularly vertebrate and dinosaurian specimens, the level of acceptance is much higher if only 25% of the fossil is original and 75% is not or has been cast from other known specimens, this is considered acceptable. However when considering minerals an 80% -100% unrestored state would be more in line with what is considered a good or fair condition in most collections.

Fossil repairs are almost always necessary, as a matter of course, particularly with vertebrate specimens, bone, claws and teeth type fossil material.

These normally need to be stabilised and repairs affected to any breaks or fractures caused historically in the fossil layers or during the extraction process from the ground. This is undertaken with sympathy to the originality, by a good fossil preparation laboratory, often associated with a recognised company or museum service. Under the right circumstances, we acquire projects which are prepared and restored in-house. This will be in our descriptions or requested condition reports. Some exceptional specimens require no work or stand alone without further conservation, this will be noted in our descriptions.

Legality + Cautionary Notes

THE FOSSIL STORE™ only trades fossils and associated materials that are legally sourced. Any fossils exports and imports which are currently being reviewed or have current restrictions and that may be illustrated in our website catalogue were acquired before the current regulations changed. Recent or new changes in the law of the country of origin may be applied by the country of origin from a certain date which may be post historic collecting.

For example, dinosaur eggs and nests; currently these are not legally allowed to be exported directly from China, even though within China’s borders there is a healthy selling market, at fossil shows for example, with independent Chinese traders selling eggs and egg nests etc. Like most businesses in the fossil industry, we will not deal with any business or take part in any transactions based outside of any legal guidelines. THE FOSSIL STORE™ deals solely with legally acquired fossils, some of which may have been acquired in old or historic collections some time ago and prior to any new or recent rules and legislation.

Legislation banning collecting or exporting. When dealing with fossils it is easy to find an overwhelming volume of categorical specimens on the trading markets within the fossil industry. We advise when looking to invest in any fossil, do your research in the business you are intending to make a purchase from. Many businesses in China selling reptile specimens can be more than 90% fake, fossil dinosaur eggs can also be very much over-restored, single eggs and nests shaped with random shell fragments made into eggs.

North Africa has also been known as a region of many fakes particularly in exporting fake trilobites in great quantities which have been expertly cast making it difficult to identify from a novice point or perspective. If in doubt we are always happy to help in these scenarios as we can only imagine for the purchaser, an unsettling experience, not knowing if what you have brought back from the souk, is a fossil or a resin cast within an ordinary rock nodule.

Authenticity Valuation

Please note; THE FOSSIL STORE™ does not certify or value third-party items unless the item has originated form (us) THE FOSSIL STORE™.