Ethical Sourcing & Documentation

SharkDr.com sources every piece in the catalog from documented domestic channels. We do not source from modern shark fisheries. We do not work with import-driven supply that lacks provenance. We do not list anything we cannot stand behind under the lifetime authenticity guarantee.

Modern great white teeth and jaws

Two legitimate sources fill the modern great white catalog. The first is pre-ban inventory — long-held private collections assembled before late-twentieth-century protections came into force. The most common reference points are California's 1994 protection of great whites at the state level and CITES Appendix II in 2004. Pre-ban material moves into our hands when collections are dispersed, estates are settled, or long-term collectors decide to refine a holding.

The second is documented modern — teeth and jaws from narrow channels operating within current legal frameworks. Examples include scientific bycatch documented within research programs, salvage from animals that died of natural causes, and estate inventory whose modern origin can be traced to a documented event.

Both are legitimate. Both are sold openly. Each pre-ban listing carries the era classification on the specifications block, and each documented modern listing carries its source description on the provenance note. Where the documentation is partial, we say so plainly.

Fossil shark teeth

Fossil shark teeth come from documented localities — specific geological formations where teeth weather out of sediment and are recovered by licensed operators or by collectors working on private land. The fossil category is not subject to wildlife law because fossils are mineralized geological specimens, not protected wildlife. The practical restrictions apply to where they were collected: most National Parks, certain BLM lands, and some Indian reservations restrict fossil collection. Every fossil on this site is sourced from private land or from licensed commercial operators, with sourcing recorded on the listing.

The most common localities in the catalog are Bone Valley (central Florida), Calvert Cliffs (Maryland-Virginia Chesapeake), Sharktooth Hill (Kern County, California), Aurora (North Carolina), and Morocco. Each region produces a different palette and a different size and condition profile.

Other modern shark teeth and pendants

Mako, tiger, bull, and other living-species teeth come from documented modern channels — typically scientific bycatch, salvage from naturally deceased animals within research programs, or estate inventory with traceable provenance. Pendants combine an authenticated tooth (modern or fossil) with a setting fabricated by a U.S. silversmith.

What documentation looks like

Documentation that travels with a piece can include any of the following: era of sourcing, name of prior holder, date of acquisition by the prior holder, dealer or estate involved in transfer, photograph from the era of sourcing, condition photographs from prior owners, locality records (for fossils), and any restoration disclosure with preparator identified. We record what survives and mark gaps plainly. A piece with full documentation is more valuable than the same piece with partial documentation, and the listing reflects that.

Records retention

SharkDr.com retains records for the lifetime of each specimen and beyond. Source documentation, condition photographs, and provenance notes are retained indefinitely and travel with the business if it is sold or transferred to a successor. Certificates of authenticity are archived in our records linked to the original order. Transactional records — orders, customer information, financial documents — are retained for seven years per IRS standard. Internal communications related to a specific order are retained for three years.

What we will not do

We do not source from any modern shark fishery. We do not work with operators whose chain of custody we cannot verify. We do not list undocumented material as documented. We do not use 'CITES paperwork' or other regulatory references in marketing language to imply legitimacy that does not exist. We do not list pieces whose era or species we cannot identify with confidence.

Conservation

We support the protection of living great white sharks and the work of marine conservation organizations operating in that space. The catalog represents specimens already removed from the population — overwhelmingly before modern protections came into force. Selling these specimens to serious collectors, with full documentation, is a different activity from sourcing new material from the wild, and we are firm about the difference.