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Full Version: Cypraea Aurantium with white line across?
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heya,

I bought this shell on a market in Kunming, Yunnan, South China. I'm sure it's a cypraea aurantium, but i never saw anything like this one, with the white line across.
Could anyone tell me if it's a fake or not.
And if it's real, is this a pricy shell? There's no way i'm selling it, but i'm just currious about a possible (crazy) price <img src="images/smiley/smile.gif" alt="" border="0" />.

Tnx!    

<a href="http://public.fotki.com/cuticula/cypraea-aurantium-1/cypraeaaurantiumwhi.html" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://public.fotki.com/cuticula/cypraea-aurantium-1/cypraeaaurantiumwhi.html">http://public.fotki.com/cuticula/cyprae ... umwhi.html</a><!-- m --></a>

<a href="http://public.fotki.com/cuticula/cypraea-aurantium-1/dsc01975.html" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://public.fotki.com/cuticula/cypraea-aurantium-1/dsc01975.html">http://public.fotki.com/cuticula/cyprae ... 01975.html</a><!-- m --></a>

in case the pictures don't come through:
<a href="http://public.fotki.com/cuticula/cypraea-aurantium-1/" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://public.fotki.com/cuticula/cypraea-aurantium-1/">http://public.fotki.com/cuticula/cypraea-aurantium-1/</a><!-- m --></a>
Such a light band can result from a fish nipping a piece out of the edge of a mollusk's mantle, where the pigment-secreting cells are located.  Sometimes the band starts somewhere on top of the dorsum, and proceeds around to the lip, indicating the degree of growth at the time the damage occurred. In this case it must have happened while the cowrie was still juvenile.  I've never seen such a colorless band in an aurantium but I have seen such a band in a number of other kinds of gastropod shells, including a few Cypraea species. There are no standard prices for such unique specimens.  It's worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  <span class="petit">--Last edited by Paul Monfils on 2009-08-19 03:21:14 --</span>
Hi. I had one like this. I sold it on ebay about 2 years ago for less than a hundred dollars. But the bands on my specimen where lighter. Yes, bands! <img src="images/smiley/smile.gif" alt="" border="0" /> The aurantium had 2 bands across. They were like ... "bed sores", you know those scar-like lines you get when you stay in bed for too long. Or they were like ... strangle marks. <img src="images/smiley/smile.gif" alt="" border="0" /> Very neat, though.