Repair, restoration, composite

Repair means the original pieces of one specimen were reassembled. A cracked ammonite glued back together is repaired. Nothing was added except adhesive. Most prepared fossils are repaired and buyers expect it, but it is still stated.

Restoration means material was added that was not there: filler in a missing corner, a sculpted tooth tip, a reconstructed section of jaw. It is described as a percentage of the visible surface and by location (“root tip filled and tinted”). Restoration is legitimate when disclosed; it is fraud when not.

Composite means parts of more than one individual were combined to make one specimen: a skeleton assembled from several animals, a trilobite with a borrowed cephalon, a plate with fish from two slabs. Composites must be identified as such, and the number of individuals stated where known.

Enhancement and treatment cover carving, tinting, coating, dyeing, heating, irradiating and polishing. Mineral dealers have long-established disclosure norms for these; fossil buyers increasingly expect the same.

The AAPS Code of Ethics requires that repairs and restoration not be misrepresented; the Munich Show requires printed labels to flag repaired, restored, irradiated and imitation pieces; eBay's fossil category rules ask for disclosure of restoration. A Stratum record that states all of this once prints it on the card, the certificate and every listing automatically.