Jan 26th, 2017: Fred and Myrtle’s Shell House
You know, Fred and Myrtle, you must remember them... unless you're not from New Zealand.
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Now Myrtle was an understand wife, appreciating the beauty and Fred's hard work, but she was still a woman, and the housekeeper. When moving all this crap to clean got to be too much, instead of freaking out on Fred to get this crap out of the house, she took a box of 4" nails and started nailing them to the walls. http://cellar.org/2017/Paua-House3.jpg Before long folks started dropping by to see the display. I grew up in a town that size and believe me, everyone knew about it. Then the word spread and people started coming from further away. Fred and Myrtle loved having company and showing off the house. Myrtle started getting up at six AM to have the house spick & span by 9. Of course politicians, the tourist board and celebrities wanted to be associated with such popular people, which increased their fame even more. Fred passed away in 2001, (Myrtle preceded him, probably from overwork), and the house went to a Grandson who didn't want the hassle of keeping the house open but didn't want to see the collection broken up. His solution, which didn't set well with some locals, was to donate the collection to the Museum of Canterbury which was hundreds of miles away. To their credit the museum duplicated much of the house. http://cellar.org/2017/Paua-House1.jpg Quote:
Link I spent way too much time on this but I liked the story. :blush: |
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Considering that a complete, polished paua shell like those can go for $25 at a scrawny, undergrown 4-5" across its longest dimension, I can only hope the museum paid at least half what those enormous antiques are worth! Seriously--paua is uniquely vivid (the color isn't from dyes) among abalone species, collection is now tightly controlled, I think most of what's on the market is farmed, and those pictured include some HUGE specimens that look to be 10-12" at their longest dimension! Good thing Fred & Myrtle missed the huge interest & commensurate price surge, or that collection would've been parted out years ago.
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Damn, those are gorgeous!
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A story so nice, he posted it twice.:D
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Hm.. Maybe I could do something similar with my collection of coffee mugs.
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Oh well, it was 11:30 and I'd been working on it for two and a half hours, so you're lucky it wasn't later because it might have been unreadable. I sure Fred and Myrtle would get a chuckle out of my dundering. :haha: |
Ol' Fred, he sold sea shells by the sea shore.
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