>     I bought a bunch of terrific shells super cheap  in Phuket,
>Thailand.  Amongst them is a nice Cypraea sakuraii which under
>maginfication looks very dubious and I think is a fake.  It sure is a
>great  fake, much better than anything that I have seen before.  I
>also bought a  Cypraea hirasei which under close examination looks
>perfectly real, but I am  understandably a bit uncertain.  Any
>suggestions as to how to verify if a  Cypraea is real?  You dealers
>must have seen this sort of thing before; let  me tell you, this phony C.
>sakuraii  looks like the real thing (it is worth  what I paid for it
>just as a fake)!  Scott Jordan
 
You can consult the homepage below to see a few fakes.
The sakurai is a real challenge. Saito Minoru purchased a few dozens in
order to check the problem, and he claims that 90% of the "beautiful" ones
are fake. With the "beautiful" ones he means the ones with  a very nice
dorsal blotch and the brown becoming very dark towards the border of the
pattern on the dorsum. I tried to learn to see this, but could not (yet)
prove that these are fakes. True that such shells were extremely
exceptional a few years ago, and that we see these often now....
 
Best, Guido
 
Starting or advanced conchologist:
please visit  http://www.club.innet.be/~year0078
and enjoy the world of shells. You are welcome.