Where would you find cowrie shells?

Cowrie Shells

Cowrie shells are widely distributed and possibly the favourites among shell collectors because of their polished enamel like surfaces and their beautiful coloured patters. The cowrie appears In all the warmer areas of the globe. But the great cowries , the tiger cowrie and the orange cowries are natives of tropical regions. They crawl slowly, browsing on weeds, and are shy creatures  remaining hidden during the day in crevices or under rocks.

The best known and most popular is the tiger cowrie. The shell grows about four inches long and it is covered with spots. It was used by 18^th century silversmiths to make shell snuff- boxes and in Italy for burnishing paper and ironing lace. The shells were often distributed in Europe by sailors and gypsies.

Orange cowries at one time sold for large sums on the market. In Fiji and the New Hebrides in the pacific they are still worn as badges of rank by the chiefs.

The money cowrie is a small oval shell, flat and white underneath with thick yellowish white edges and a pale lemon upper surface. It is found in enormous quantities in the Pacific, from the Moluccas eastward. Large fortunes were at one time made by European traders who transported shells to the west coast of Africa and exchanged them for ivory, gold and slaves. A slave would be worth anything from 20000 to 50000 shells. In 1849 money cowries weighing 240 tons were imported in to the English port of Liverpool.

A man at Cuttack in Orissa, India pad for the erection of his bungalow entirely in cowries.The building cost him pounds 400 which in cowries amounted to 16000000 shells. The common method of handling the cowries was by threading them on a string, 40 cowries to one string.

Among the cowries the rarest is Cypreae leucedon. Only two known examples of the pale brown, creamy spotted shell exist. One is in the British Museum, the other is in the Harvard University Museum. More than 190 species of cowrie shell are known to collectors. Some species are used as charms against evil spirits.          

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