I know of at least one instance. Mr. J. Bot, a passionate collector living
in a small town near the Catalan coast, used to crack large, almost-mature
Mediterranean helicids, then introduce the visceral mass of the live animal
into a shell from, say Cuba, and so he got amazing apertures in his garden.
He knew it was a freak, but I recall him saying this could make big profit
from unaware buyers. His collection was open to visitors, yet his
daughters were busy selling shells at a tiny shop at the house inway. I
think he kept his manipulated freaks for himself, though. The collection
is still open, managed by one his daughters, and surely still displays
these shells.
Cristian
-----Mensaje original-----
De: Doug Stemke [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Enviado el: lunes 11 de abril de2005 18:16
Para: [log in to unmask]
Asunto: Creation of 'freaks'
I have personally always been most interested in the best representatives
of a given species I can affordably aquire. However, it is clear that
there is a large market for freaks based on the prices I've seen (some of
these shells being EXTREMELY expensive) for many relatively common
species. To the best of my knowledge this is best represented in Cypraea,
but also shells like Strombus, Lambis, Cymatium with extra digits, siphon
canals, etc also seem rather popular freaks.
Anyway, with such an active market it would seem that one could fairly
easily generate freaks with live specimens in aquariums after damaging the
mantle. I was just wondering if this is just my active imagination or if
this is actually going on. After myself running into doctored shells
(baked, repaired, etc) I was just wondering if this practice runs into
working with the live shells themselves.
Thanks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
