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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