Megalodon Teeth For Sale

Buyers Guide: How Much Are Megalodon Teeth Worth?

Sometimes our megalodon teeth have unusual pricing. Why is that 6 inch tooth less than the 5 1/2 inch tooth? Shouldn’t it be more expensive? Fossils are all unique, so of course pricing is a little subjective but there are many factors that go into putting a price on a megalodon tooth. Size All other factors being equal, the larger the tooth the more it is worth. Teeth get progressively rarer as size increases, so the price also increases. Once you start to get around 4-5 inches, this price increase starts to become exponential since larger teeth are more difficult to find. Particularly as you near the magical size of 6 inches (a very large tooth!) it climbs fast. A 6-inch tooth will often sell for more than twice as much as a comparable 5 ¾-inch tooth. While megalodon teeth over 7 inches long have been found, they are exceedingly rare. Only a handful measuring 7 inches have EVER come on the market and the last one we saw for sale was several years ago with an asking price well north of $25k. A note on size measurements: Megalodon teeth are always measured using the diagonal length from the corner of the root to the tip of the tooth. The longer of the two diagonals is the length of the tooth. We always use digital calipers to get measurements to the 1/100th of an inch, since small changes in tooth size can have a big impact on price with large teeth. Location Collected Just like with real estate, it’s all about location. While this may not matter if you are just buying a megalodon tooth as a present for a kid or to display on your shelf, it is very important to collectors. Complete megalodon teeth are common from some locations, but very rare from others. If a site becomes inaccessible to collecting--for example the closing of the Lee Creek Mine--prices jump. In general, teeth from the river and ocean deposits in the Carolinas are the least expensive while teeth from land sites such as Bakersfield, California are much rarer. Different sites also tend to produce unique colorations, modes of preservation, and sizes. A 4-inch Megalodon tooth from the Carolinas is relatively common, while a 4-inch tooth from the Bone Valley region of Florida is quite rare. Tooth Condition: The overall condition of the tooth has a big impact on pricing. A “perfect” tooth (does perfect really exist?) with no flaws is very rare, so the price will be many times higher than a tooth with just a few minor flaws. Most collectors will value condition above all else while someone just buying a tooth as a gift for their kid may not find the condition as important as size. Enamel – How much of it is present and what condition is it in? It’s common for larger teeth to have significant amounts of peeled enamel. Megalodon tooth with enamel peels. Root Condition – Is it complete? It’s very common for portions of the root to be worn away. Serrations – Are they visible and complete? How sharp or worn are they? Tip – Is the tip worn? Does it have feeding damage? Teeth with a sharp tip are the exception, adding a lot to the price. Tooth with perfect serrations and tip> Chipping – Are there chips out of the edge of the blade? Bourrelet – The bourrelet is a thin band of enamel between the blade and the root. It is worn in the vast majority of teeth, so having a complete or near complete bourrelet is rare. Restoration and Repair Repair refers to gluing a broken tooth back together to make it whole again. Restoration is reconstructing a missing portion of the tooth, often done with the root or portions of enamel. Both of these types and degrees of these alterations affect a tooth's price. For some minor amounts of restoration to make a tooth look better is not a big deal, while for others it is a deal breaker. A 5-inch megalodon tooth with part of the root restored might be ½ or 1/3 the cost of one with no restoration. Some people would rather have a tooth that looks the same at 1/3 the cost. It’s important to know what you are buying. Some of the teeth we sell have been restored or repaired but we always clearly note this in descriptions, and our prices reflect the alterations. Unfortunately, not all sellers are upfront about this, and some are simply dishonest even when asked. Tooth with right side of root restored. Polishing/Buffing One process often used to clean megalodon teeth is to buff its surfaces, often adding a little shine to the enamel too. This is something considered acceptable by most collectors and the cleaning if done well will usually increase the value of a tooth. However, "polishing" a tooth on is where the tooth is heavily polished to the point of removing enamel in order to hide surface defects. You can take a pretty gnarly tooth and polish it to make it look semi-attractive. Because this process is in effect doing significant damage to the tooth, the tooth would be far less valuable than an unpolished tooth. Most collectors aren't interested in polished teeth. Unique Coloration - Sometimes a tooth will have a unique coloration for the site it was found. These teeth will command premiums. Shape & Location In Mouth - The location the tooth was in the mouth of the sharp determines the shape. Lower teeth will be dagger-shaped while posterior teeth will be short and wide. Some collectors prefer different shaped teeth. Growth Pathologies - Anything that makes a tooth unique and rarer can make it more valuable to collectors. Pathologies or deformations that happened while the shark was alive can make a tooth for valuable. There are collectors that specialize in collecting Megalodon teeth with pathologies.