Hi. I have a fake slit shell that was a gift to me from a friend
who bought shells - at very modest prices - in the Philippines.
He gave me a number of shells all of which were as obviously
"real" as the slit was fake. How did I know ? For one thing it
was very light in weight.  I compared it with another slit shell
I have and it just didn't feel right.  Another tell-tales was found by
looking at the aperture.
There was no nacreous (?) border. Then, I looked at the bottom of
the shell. It was painted a sickly green.

The paradox is, I love that fake slit shell and it's as much a
part of my collection as anything else.

Karen


On Wed, 19 Apr 2000, Barbara Jouvernaux wrote:

> I have come across a slit shell for sale which has no ID or location data.
> It may have come from an old collection and has turned up amongst a large
> selection of  low grade shells for the ornament and craft market. The seller
> doesn't seem to know much about shells either, as she is not a collector and
> sells mainly to people wanting a few pretty shells for the mantlepiece.
> Although she suspects it may be quite valuable, she does not know what price
> to ask, so is investigating before she will quote me a price.
> This looks like a possible golden opportunity if she comes back to me with a
> really good price. Being a beginner collector, and not very knowledgable yet
> myself, I have no idea what the true value of such a shell would be. I have
> only briefly examined the shell at her shop, and I did not have any
> reference books with me.
> I came home and looked at a few books and it looks like it could be a
> perotrochus africana or perotrochus westralis. It is about 5 inches, pale
> orange and in reasonable condition, I would guestimate  F to F+.
> I have read that a slit shell can be faked. I would love to have any advice
> you can offer regarding clues to identify the shell and how one can tell
> whether it is a fake or not. Is there a site on the internet where I could
> see some good pictures? Also an estimation of the value of the shell with no
> data at all.
> Many thanks for your input.
>