eBAY FIND: SHONKY PRODUCT

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This eBAY find is at once disturbing and reassuring. Disturbing, in the sense that the seller here has no discrimination and is willing to do anything to attract attention to a shonky product. Reassuring, in so much as pulling all the key word tricks here has failed to win the level of bidding real maireener shells attract – on other occasions like shells have failed to win a bid at all. Clearly, the buyers of these necklaces know what they are looking at and what it is they are looking for. Other sellers could do well to learn from this failed entry.

These shells keep turning up and nobody seems to have worked out just where they are from. The Philippines is the best candidate thus far. They are tropical and not from Tasmanian waters. Tasmanian Aboriginal maireener makers would feel insulted to have this work attributed to them as they take great care about the collection and preparation of their shells. While it is possible that they may have dyed their shells at some time there is no evidence of it – anecdotal, circumstantial or concrete.

Also, the seller dated this necklace at 1860/70 and there is a fundamental problem with this it would seem. It is very likely that this necklace was dyed with aniline dyes but these dyes were not invented until the 1890s. Arriving at a date of manufacture for an object often relies upon intuition but here invention ans aspiration seems to have been the main factors informing the intuition. If you do not know, then it is usually better to say so.

If this seller had done some research (any research?) this description could not have been used and the Internet makes this research very easy to do – simply Google 'maireener' necklace to start.