There are bargins and then there are bargains.  I was on E*** and came
across a seller in the shell section that had a headline "After 30 years
I'm selling off my collection" with no particular identification of the
shell that he was selling.   I took a peak and saw it was a decent, but
obviously dead Cypraea valentia.  He had a brief description of the shell
as a "very rare lucrudon" which is clearly misidentified through the
photograph.  I said, what the heck, I'll put a $10 bid on it and was very
surprised that I actually won the shell.  The shell arrived and it was in
the shape that he had stated.

I am frankly suspicious.  Someone who has been collecting shells for 30
years and misidentifies such a classic rareity as Cypraea valentia
as "lucrudon" (which I assume means Cypraea leucodon) seems pretty odd to
me.  I'm just a tad worried that this could be a stolen shell.  I realize
a nice, but dead Prince Cowry is not a $450 shell and maybe I should just
count my blessings, but I thought I should check with Y'all if anyone here
has heard about any such shell that has been stolen.

Thanks.

Doug

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