Jiongtao says "Sorry for everyone that I submitted this uninteresting topic
m(--)m....."
I disagree!
It was a very interesting thread!  Thanks for posting it, and thanks to all who
participated.
I suppose it becomes very important to know if you have a 'doctored' shell if
you are planning on paying big bucks for one, or innocently trying to sell one
in the mistaken belief that it is real.  Such 'doctored' shells make an
interesting collection of their own - if you don't pay too much.
I too am a lover of shells for their own sake.  I like all shells, (that's why I
can't specialize I suppose).  I don't have big bucks to spend, but there are
thousands of shells out there that fall in the little or no value category. They
don't even have to be pretty in the usual way -  I enjoy looking at each shell
and comparing them against other similar shells, sort of a pseudo-scientific
interest I guess.  And I can look at the small ones endlessly under the
misroscope!

Nora
Calgary, Alberta

Jiongtao HUANG wrote:

> Hi, dear friends,
>
> Thank you so much for your suggustions, advice, discussions and
> investigations on "Baking Cowrie". I have already read all of replies. Most
> of them are very interesting, I think. Anyway, I still think it is a very
> difficult problem that how to judge "color variations of cowries" are
> natural or baking (artificial treatment) because of the following two
> reasons:
>
> (1) Nature is a quite great creator, almost all of our common senses can be
> changed by new discoveries. If we can accept a great quality Cypraea
> Aurantium, or Rosselli Edingeri, we can naturally accept a baking "Cypraea
> Caputserpentis" as a golden form of normal. On the other hand, Erosaria
> moneta has golden and other color forms. And Caputserpentis has also redish
> form (please refer to "Seashells of Philippines"). Based on these
> knowledgements, if there is a baked Rosselli without crack, how can we judge
> it is a true or not. I have seen a baking Caputserpentis without any crack
> and oil smell.
>
> (2) Based on the logic, it is possible that almost all species has pigment
> lacking variations such as Edingeri and Golden Caputserpentis, etc. Although
> we can find some differents from true Edingeri or Baking rosselli, for
> example, teeth of true Edingeri is redish but baked one is colorless. But we
> cannot say a colorless one is exactly a fake one since its existance is also
> possible.
>
> Acturally, I am a shell lover and I don't like doubt a shell is a true one
> or not since thinking about these problems is quite tied and unhappy.
>
> Sorry for everyone that I submitted this uninteresting topic m(--)m.....
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Jiongtao
> http://www.soft.ics.keio.ac.jp/~huang/
>
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