The Japanese 'salted' or planted many versions of Sea Shells
in the mid pacific region and I wouldn't doubt it south east
meaning South East Asia, various islands.

Various Top shells, Sea slugs, cucumbers, urchins
Oysters and the like. They did it for occupation
food, ship back home food, and commerce. I'd suspect
the cat's eye might be wanted.

The commercial Top Trochus niloticus
was used for buttons. The thick shell layers once
it was placed in H Cl to clean off the red and convert
it to mother of perl were 'core drilled' making buttons
and then the holes were drilled.

I know not the true water temp and what the water temp
range of life. There are hot spots I suspect NZ being
what it is breaking out of the water itself.

And the long list of sites in books are around but mostly
west and north of you.

Maybe it was dredged up from a deep hot zone from were it came.

And to end this - it obvious seems to be a personal issue with
you - were there other shells from the area ? or if intended
to be fake data - why not say it was collected from a known site?!

Martin

Andrew Grebneff wrote:
>> I find it hard for you to be so tough on the thought.
>> Here is a list I found on one of the sites I use.
>>
>> Living south of where I collected a number of fine specimens.
>> Kwajalein Atoll.
>>
>> Ships for many, many years went to / from your ports or off shore...
>> Logs as well.... And just maybe they were salted there like many
>> other sites in the Pacific during and before WW II.
>
> No, seeing as you ask, this was listed as having been TWO specimens
> w/o collected within 20 years or so. And the SE part of the South
> Island is cool-temperate... no way would logborne etc specimens
> survive, or even reach here. And I have never found nor heard of any
> "salted" or otherwise out-of-place specimens in the southern 2/3 of
> NZ. Occasionally they are found around Auckland, but the climate
> there is warm enough to allow chance tropical larval falls of
> specimens falling off ships to survive, if not to breed. I also know
> of planted specimens in the Auckland area, and it is possible that
> some or all of the unquestioned nonliving fossil & Recent
> "wanderers" found there were salted by the one person. I did find a
> piece of Murex once in Victoria, BC, Canada. Such salted specimens
> could of course make it onto the market, but they are not so common.
>
> Frankly it is the dealer's responsibility to provide ACCURATE
> locality information with specimens. If data is doubtful, then it
> should be advertised as such. If it is plainly incorrect (ie a stupid
> mixup or deliberate falsification by the collector or middlemen),
> then the shells should be offered "no data" or given to visiting
> interested children. Selling specimens with obviously falsified data
> is fraud... and before I'm told that dealers can't be expected to
> know every country's location and climate, well, it's his BUSINESS to
> know; all he has to do, if the locality seems odd, is to check a map.
> Ignorance is no excuse.
> --
> Andrew Grebneff
> Dunedin
> New Zealand
> Fossil preparator
> Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut
> ‚ Opinions stated are mine, not of the University of Otago
> "There is water at the bottom of the ocean" - Talking Heads
>
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--
Martin H. Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
TSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Patron Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot's Medal.
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.
http://lufkinced.com/

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