As part of a teaching collection to show uses (including tourist "art") of mollusca, i began collecting these various carved cowries with scenes and sayings on them. Curious too about the "carving" i tried to collect them from various areas to determine the "distribution" of technique. As has been stated here, most are acid etched -- some appear to be sandblasted using a technique similar (in reverse lettering mode actually) to that used to make gravestones, and a few are hand-carved. The most intresting that i have found, and oddly only a single item to date -- a "Lord's Prayer" version of a tiger cowry -- is what appears to me to be a porcelain reproduction. The quality of this "shell" is so good that i did not recognize it as such from the pictures. And even catalogued it into the collection before realizing something was different. bc austin, texas _________________________________________________________________ Get a FREE online virus check for your PC here, from McAfee. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963