. Found at low tide under dead coral slab, Ala Moana reef, Oahu, Hawaii, 2014. You know, of all of the Hawaiian cowries, the maculifera was the easiest for me to find, meaning that when it came to never finding a cowrie in Hawaii, when I did find a cowrie, most often it was either a snakehead or a maculifera. I loved to turn over large slabs of dead coral, and despite the excitement of almost always finding a moray eel under said slabs, it was worth it, for to find a big, glossy, glowing cowrie after finding nothing under a hundred smaller rocks was exhilarating!
. The secret of finding them though, was looking for them at night. In fact, one of my most vivid memories of what shelling in paradise must be like was while on the big island of Hawaii. It was low tide, and I was standing along a long breakwater made up of small, black lava boulders, and quite literally there were hundreds of maculiferas sitting all over that breakwater, just waiting to be picked up, I couldn't believe it! Add that I was camping and had no way to clean them, so no way to actually collect them, and you get a good idea of the marveling frustration I felt at being confronted by such a sight... they were so close, yet so far away!
. True story!
. And as was so often the case, that was a great snapshot of what shell collecting in Hawaii was like for me---one marvel after another!
. And this shell? Well, as the video shows, this is a dark, nice sized, glossy, beautiful near-GEM, which is rare for a shell that likes to live in crashing surf. And of course, it will look terrific sitting on your shelf!
. The perfect shell for a first-class collection.
As for normal disclaimers, we do the best we can with photos, but color is tricky, especially since cell phone cameras automatically lean towards flesh-tone coloring, (that's why so many of the photos of shells on eBay show up with more orange than is really there, the camera changes the color, and damm if I can figure out how to stop that from happening, but I try, honest!
As for feedback, as you know, sellers live and die by the feedback you leaved, (please leave fives!) so if you have a problem, just let me know! After all, I'm retired, and all messages go directly to my phone, so unless I'm out shell collecting I will get back to you pronto-like!
Shell collecting! Now there's a phrase that brings smiles to your eyes, doesn't it!
Anyhow, if you have read this far, you have my apologies and best wishes from those of us at IslandShells323. And don't forget,
Home is where your collection is!
DARK! Cypraea maculifera hawaiiensis #7 55.3mm, Linnaeus 1758, GORGEOUS NEAR-GEM BEAUTY from Hawaii
Buy 3 or more shells, get free shipping promotion---This promotion applies to any 3 shells bought at the same time, but unfortunately, this is a promotion we are doing, not eBay, so, we have to refund the shipping after you the buy 3 shells! If you have questions, we are here to answer them!
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