[Nicole]

What's this about?

http://cgi.ebay.com/charming-12mm-6m...QQcmdZViewItem

If you look around on eBay, you can find others similar. I'll admit that I get the different species confused, and I don't know if everything labeled "Tridacna" is from T. gigas. What I don't understand is, if the species is protected, why are the beads so cheap? What species are the mother-of-pearl nuclei that are used for South Sea Pearls? Are they more or less expensive for the pearl farmers than the Giant Clam nuclei?

Nicole

[Pearl_dreams]

If they are protected, they are not allowed to be sold on eBay. Here is a link to their policy on endangered animal products:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/wildlife.html

Under "Some examples", there is this statement:

Other Animal Parts: Endangered or protected species, or any part of any endangered or protected species may not be listed on eBay.

[Valeria101]

Welcome to the choir!

There is plenty of ivory, coral, tortoise ... seal and polar bear claws, baleen that look credible and inexpensive. I'm not sure I want to know where the $0.2 cone shells come from either.

All in all, the ones I find disturbing are the tremendous amounts of probably new coral and ivory - hopefully fakes! Inasmuch as vintage objects are tradable nationally, and it isn't easy to tell which is what and where's going, the whole picture looks murky. Some sellers announce that they will enforce the export ban on ivory and coral and not ship across borders, but not everyone says and not all that say practice...

I believe that vintage tortoise is not banned from sale either and the chance of finding new material is slim because the source is all but gone, but I could be mistaking. The other types are rare and the objects appear to be from native hunting, which is permitted. Of course, there is no way to tell for certain.

What strykes me the most about all these materials are the low prices! With products from rare species sold at price points where quantity makes the day... things can't possibly be good. As if the bans did not detter commerce, not even pushed it to the underground, but keep the stuff way below the high end where scarcity can be priced. Makes no sense

[jerin]

Originally Posted by Nicole

What's this about?

http://cgi.ebay.com/charming-12mm-6m...QQcmdZViewItem

If you look around on eBay, you can find others similar. I'll admit that I get the different species confused, and I don't know if everything labeled "Tridacna" is from T. gigas. What I don't understand is, if the species is protected, why are the beads so cheap? What species are the mother-of-pearl nuclei that are used for South Sea Pearls? Are they more or less expensive for the pearl farmers than the Giant Clam nuclei?

Nicole

Are these Tridacna beads without any nacre or what?

[jshepherd]

Originally Posted by jerin

Are these Tridacna beads without any nacre or what?

They appear to be! That is pretty blatant. It would be against the law to import the strand into the US.

[Pearl_dreams]

And with that confirmation from Jeremy that this is in fact prohibited material, I reported the auction.

If anyone else wants to (if more do so, it may get pulled faster), here is how:

At the bottom of the auction page there is a "report" link. Click on that.

On the next page, in the first box, select "Prohibited (banned items)."

In the second box, select "Animals, plants, and wildlife."

In the third box, select "Items containing parts of regulated, protected, or endangered species." Then click "continue".

On the next page, click on "email us" and then "send" on the next page, and the item will be reported.

I'm going to do the same for all the other Tridacna gigas beads listed.

[Pearl_dreams]

Oh, and you can use the box on that final page (before you click "send") to list up to 10 items at a time that you are reporting. Just copy and paste the item numbers in, separated by commas.

[Caitlin]

Back when I was researching the Pearl of Allah and "drowning by clam", I came across some sources that said the t. gigas was cultivated for food. I didn't pay close enough attention at the time, because I was on the hunt for something else, but hopefully, those are the ones they are using.

I am way behind on my admin duties and posts, so I am not going to look for it now, so if anyone else wants to check that out, it would be good to know.