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Check out this monster Megalodon!

lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Metal Detecting
My buddy's been finding some BIG monsters lately, at a site where my nicest Meg came up in 2003. I have yet to find anything this nice, though.

I exuberantly "guesstimated" this as a thousand-dollar tooth. Why? Three factors. One- size. It's HUGE, even for a Meg. Two- condition. It's in great shape. Three- pathology. It's a "pathological", meaning there's healed damage in different places along both edges, where the shark bit into something a bit too crunchy and hurt its tooth, which then healed. (One shudders to think of what would be too crunchy for a beast like this to chew up. Think of the raw bite power of a modern Great White, and multiply that several times.)

He had an offer in the $600-700 range, and turned it down. I don't really blame him. Even by the standards of my buddy (who's a pro "finder"), this is an amazing fossil.

image

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Comments

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Whoa... that is frikken awesome..... incredible.... does he dig for those? Surely they are not lying on top of the dirt.... Cheers, RickO
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Believe it or not, that was indeed lying on top of the dirt, if his story is to be believed.

    I believe it, because my best Meg found so far (in another part of that same island) was totally exposed, at the bottom of a dried-up puddle.

    Here it is. It's my best, but not my biggest. Just the best preserved. It's only a 3-point-something-inch piece, versus six inches for the monster above. My biggest were about five inches, but missing a corner here or there. They get busted up coming through the dredge pipe sometimes, so a really big intact piece like the one above is an amazing find, and quite rare. In SC they dive the murky brown rivers for them. Here we go to where the dredges dump their spoil, and hunt 'em on dry land.

    image

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  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Awesome.... I would love to have one of those..... will have to see if I can get some search time when I visit my daughter in NC..... Cheers, RickO
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    They are rare finds. But look for the signs. These monster megalodon sharks fed on whales, so when we see pieces of fossilized bone (whale bone), we know we're getting close. There are certain kinds of shells that also mark out the fossiliferous dirt from the sterile dirt, too. I know how to spot fossil-bearing dirt from several yards off.

    Oddly, I do not find many of the smaller teeth where I have found the Megs. They cluster together in other areas.

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  • StubbyMcNumbthumbsStubbyMcNumbthumbs Posts: 1,259 ✭
    That is really cool! I can remember finding sharks teeth on the beach when I was growing up in Clearwater, FL, but they were tiny, probably 3/4" on avg.

    Never found anything like that, although I think SC is the prime area for those.

    My son's into that kind of stuff. He has a few nice trilobytes and the like, but hasn't talked me into the $$ it would take to buy a megalodon tooth (he's only 11).


    I can't even imagine the size of that creature swimming around!
  • StubbyMcNumbthumbsStubbyMcNumbthumbs Posts: 1,259 ✭
    Oh, and thanks for including me in your "43000" posts Giveaway!
  • BBQnBLUESBBQnBLUES Posts: 1,803 ✭
    YIKES ! That monster belongs in the Natural History Museum.. What a find !!!

    Did a _quick eBay search & found this sellers store with a nice selection of teeth imageTooth Sleuth
  • ZotZot Posts: 825 ✭✭✭
    image

    Fascinating stuff! If those aren't great pieces of history, I don't know what is..

    Your buddy's piece is a monster, and your piece is also very very nice. Both are in amazing state of preservation!
    Minelab: GPX 5000, Excalibur II, Explorer SE. White's: MXT, PI Pro
  • ColinCMRColinCMR Posts: 1,482 ✭✭✭
    Awww that is a great find!!
  • goldmine266goldmine266 Posts: 201
    I live in Maryland and I go to calvert cliffs to find my sharks teeth. I went a few weeks back and got around 50 of them. All real small. My friend found a big one and it was his first time there. He loved it. I go once a year and every time I get back I fill my jar up even higher with them. I have a shell lamp that I want to take apart and fill with the teeth when I have enough.
    I love the one you found. You hardly ever see one in condition like that.
    image I keep a census on Hawaii Error notes, Radars, Repeaters, Hawaii Stars (all denominations), Low serials, 6 of a kind, 7 of a kind, Canceled notes, AC blocks, ZB blocks, FC blocks, Uncut sheets and Late plates. If you have any information you would like to share please PM me. Thanks.image
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    TTT, because I needed the picture.

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  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thanks anyway... that is truly an awesome tooth.... Cheers, RickO
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