-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Sharpe <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, January 03, 2002 2:22 AM
Subject: Epitonium rugosum


>Hi Folks,
>    Happy New Year to all.  Just wondered if anyone could tell me the
>registered world record size of Epitonium rugosum.
>
>Best Regards
>Andrew Sharpe

Good Morning,
I  noted your  query   re the   Epitonium   rugosum   but decided to wait
until    others made comment.
Now I   find    I    may    be in    someones    ARCHIVES    as   the reply
was    doubtless    about   the    one    we    received    last year.
Ours is   133.2....and alas    a  fake.        I  have    a  suspicion  some
one in    the   Philippines is   a    darn good artist...By  the    looks of
the    shell    it couldnt   be more
perfect...however   when in    doubt     we    have taken    the    shell to
our    good  friend    the Vet. who   xrayed  it for us    at a small  fee.
Worth    every penny   and   unless the  little animal    got carried
away   and    couldnt    help itself,   there      is    no    inner
structure   to show     the spiral     ...a   solid
shell   for the most   part...Cant  find the  xray at the moment   to  be
more explicit  but take it from me it   is   a  fake...a beautiful    fake.
We    even   told our supplier   that   we had   had the picture made and he
seemed  shocked and couldnt   yet    believe it...Of  course we kept the
shell...to me its   a work of art   and   as   valuable as real   one
would be...however   now that I  think on it,   I    would be hard pressed
to give   up    the     $900.00  I was offered for it    when    it   was
thought to be for   real.
This is not the first    "Record" size  shell wehave    gotten    from the
Philippines  so now   we   take   them   and   have   xrayed....One time   a
shell was altered    to be another    specie    but the onethey    used  was
worth    more  than the one   they created...
Hope  this   helps a  bit.....
Mique Pinkerton