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Philippines jiaPhilippines jia BUKA My wife Vicki and I live on the small island of Buka, north of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea, where we have been teaching school for just over three years. Buka has no television, only one English-speaking radio station, no movie theaters, no paved roads and, for shopping, only a few trade stores. In an isolated place like this, shell collecting becomes not just a hobby, but a passion! Philippines jiaPhilippines jia The original specimen is now in the British Museum (Natural History) (ex W. J. Broderip collection) and the same institution acquired another in 1866 when it bought Hugh Cuming's collection. Miss Jane Saul, the nineteenth-century cowry specialist, also had one and this is now in the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology. Frans van Heukelom acquired one in 1858 and it is now in the Zoological Museum, Amsterdam. None of these shells was localized and it was not until 1882 that a localized one was recorded: this was supposed to have come from Warrior Reef, Torres Strait, off the New Guinea coast. A Mr. Hargraves had obtained it from the captain of a pearling vessel (J. Allan, 1956, Cowry Shells of World Seas, p. 110); and Dr. J. C. Cox, a well-known Sydney conchologist bought it from Hargraves about 1881. In 1917 Messrs. Sowerby & Fulton, the London shell dealers, sold it to Philippe Dautzenberg, on behalf of Cox, for 75 pounds and it is now in the Brussels Natural History Museum. On two or three occasions during the last century Cypraea valentia was auctioned publicly: van Heukelom bought his at the sale of T. G. van Lidth de Jeude's collection in 1858 but the selling price is unknown; one owned by John Dennison, whose collection was auctioned in 1865, was sold to the dealer Bryce M. Wright for 40 pounds (but he paid 42 pounds for Dennison's Cypraea gutatta Gmelin). Its present commercial value is now very much higher as Mr. Clover would ruefully admit and should another come on the market it would probably make a world-record price for any shell. Now that the Prince Cowry has been found again the list of long-lost rarities has been reduced by one; but that one-headed the list for a very long time. For allowing me to publish this note and for providing the illustrations, I am indebted to Mr. Clover. Philippines jia philippines jia,wholesale elastic bracelets,bigiotteria,philippines shells philippines shell,jewelry philipine jewel,wholesale philippine shellcraft,philippines shells ear rings,wholesale products,philippines on a chain around the neck or on an earring,philippines jia
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Updated June 3, 2004 |
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