It was one of the most priceless objects from nature one could have. There were only a handful that were known to exist, and if you had this in your cabinet of curiosities, you were probably one of the few in Europe with unlimited funds to afford such a glorious object. Conus Gloriamaris, or in English, The Glory of the Seas Cone, was the rarest seashell in the World. It was so rare, one individual reputably bought one, then another, so he could destroy the second and increase the other's rarity and value. In the wild, the cone shell a sea snail. It comes to us from the Indo-Pacific area, roughly where the Pacific and Indian Oceans meet. Theses can grow upwards of 6 inches in length, displaying fine geometric patterns in copper, dark brown and light brown.
First discovered in 1777, this rare and wondrous seashell
commanded fantastic prices when it actually went up for sale, upwards of 30
million in today's dollars for one sold in the late 1700s. Finding one to
buy at auction would be a "once in a lifetime" occurrence in and of itself, given the
dearth of examples in existence at the time. For almost 200 years, the Conus
Gloriamaris remained virtually unobtainable. Then, on the sea beds
surrounding the Philippine Islands, a discovery was made. In 1969, scuba
divers discovered the source of this ultra-rare seashell, and it was no longer
a thing of great price. Today, you can obtain one for a reasonable amount
online, and when you hold it in your hand, you can honestly say that this shell
was once the equivalent of a Vermeer.
