[\/\/ayne]

The Proliferation of Fake Chinese Fossils

Exposing the Fraud of Unscrupulous Fossil Dealers and their Magnificent-Looking Fossils

Perhaps no other source for fake fossils has posed such a problem as exists today with fossils from China. We must preface this section to say the fake Chinese fossil market is becoming increasingly sophisticated and changing so rapidly that any fossil now originating in China should be approached with caution. This section deals with only the tip of a massive and growing "iceberg".

Each year, thousands of trusting buyers are duped by both inexpensive and very expensive, highly realistic fakes. More troubling, even scientists have fallen prey to the extraordinary craftsmanship of the Chinese fake fossil artists. In 1999, highly recognized scientists along with National Geographic magazine presented an amazing new discovery of a feathered dinosaur discovered in the Liaoning Province of China. The bird with a dinosaur's tail was named ARCHAEORAPTOR. A year later, it was found to be a clever fake.

[SunkenCiv]

Years ago, a US company was having lots of counterfeits of their small appliance products being "returned" because of defects; they traced the source through an importer, all the way back into China; their investigators obtained a photo of the Chinese factory -- it even had their name and logo on the outside of the plant.

[hanamizu]

More troubling, even scientists have fallen prey to the extraordinary craftsmanship of the Chinese fake fossil artists

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The fact is that there are well over a billion people living in China. They have a history of craftsmanship. There are millions of Chinese who can paint pretty good fake Van Goughs and fake spiders. And there are hundreds and thousands who can create outstanding fakes. Was it Stalin who said that “quantity has a quality all its own”?

[lepton]

Heh. I Remember the archeoraptor thread.