rare shell on dorset beach

[paul monfils]

Dave,  Your comments reminded me of a story I read somewhere, and I managed to locate it without too much difficulty, in Abbott's classic book, Kingdom of the Seashell.  It is part of a piece on the use of cowrie shells for money.  Apparently tons of them were imported into England, for use in trading with some African countries. The part I recalled, which is germane to the present discussion, is this:

"Cowries were being imported into England as late as 1873.  In that year, a four-masted bark, the Glendowra, homeward bound from Manila with a cargo of 600 bags of money cowries, went aground in the fog near Seascale, along the coast of Cumberland. For many years these shells could be picked up in good condition on the English beaches."