Hello everybody,
 
last month I was in the Philippines and bought a magnificent Cypraea
teramachi from New Caledonia. A New Caledonian dealer was busy exchanging
hundreds of surplus stock there from deep water expeditions, including
Lyria kuniene, Pleurotomaria caledonicus, A. aureomarginata etc...
 
Bondi sold me a C. teramachi for 2500 US$. The shell was magnificent and
closely resembles the single specimen with black spot on top from the Paris
Museum.
 
Last week we got Rotterdam shell show, and I did not take the shell to the
show, as this is an item that should go privately, but several dealers have
seen the shell in Brussels. When Saito came in, he quickly claimed this was
a fake. He could convince me and other dealers rapidly.
 
It is so that since about 6 months they use a new coating in which the
pattern, painted, often air brush, is completely covered. One gets a
magnificent brilliant cover. But theycan also include the painting in the
"resine", and applyspotting on a natural pattern. This was what happened
with the teramachi.
 
Befor buying I tested the shell with aceton and nail remover, but nothing
happened. Saito claims they are now at a level that almost all of the
leucodon, sakurai and teramachi are coated. Many other shells also of
course, but this is frankly unbelievable. Leucodon, they bring on exta
spotting.
 
Until a new system for detection is discovered I will not handle these
species, except if I buy them animal inside offshore from the fisherman.
 
A sakurai said to be fake is at the disposal of researchers here. I'll sent
it free on demand. They can destroythe shell, doesn't matter, but it should
serve the research on the coating. A chemist is most advised.  Or I mail
several pieces of the shell to different volunteers.
 
 Images of the teramachi (normal and microscope) can be obtained, just ask
privately, and we mail the images. If there are more than 30 demands, then
I guess we can use conch-L. ?
 
Best regards, Guido.
 
PS: our e-mail and URL changed.