Thread: Antique sea turtle shells?

Originally Posted by fudo133

Hi all,

I'm hoping i wont get in trouble for posting this here, but I was just wondering whether someone on here might possibly have an antique/vintage sea turtle shell they'd be prepared to part with for a fair price? i.e - around $100 to $150 or so (or more for larger ones).

I'm specifically after a hawksbill turtle shell (the one on the left) rather than a green turtle shell (the one on the right), but would still be prepared to buy a green turtle shell if the right one came along.
I don't mind heavy damage like the odd badly chipped or missing plate either.

Please pm me if you've got one or know of one that someone's willing to sell.

Even though you are seeking a shell from a turtle harvest long ago, it may still be illegal to trade in them without a permit.

Hawksbill Turtles and almost all marine turtles are protected by the CITES agreement prohibiting the import / export & trade in turtle products. Hawksbill are listed as critically endangered.

Originally Posted by fudo133

Hi all,

I'm hoping i wont get in trouble for posting this here, but I was just wondering whether someone on here might possibly have an antique/vintage sea turtle shell they'd be prepared to part with for a fair price? i.e - around $100 to $150 or so (or more for larger ones).

I'm specifically after a hawksbill turtle shell (the one on the left) rather than a green turtle shell (the one on the right), but would still be prepared to buy a green turtle shell if the right one came along.
I don't mind heavy damage like the odd badly chipped or missing plate either.

Please pm me if you've got one or know of one that someone's willing to sell.

Hi, not sure why you want one, but over many years I've only seen them in Antique shops - for a motza, I might add, not the kind of money that you are offering. Strangely enough, antique shops in the eastern suburbs of Sydney used to throw them up quite often. I don't visit there now so this info is very old and the prices may be very out-of-date (over 20 years out-of-date!). They always used to be in the order of $800 to $2,000 from memory, and that mostly for the Green Turtle, not the Hawksbill. With conservation now a priority it may be that no one wants to be seen with one now. When you consider that Heron Island once housed a turtle meat cannery (YUK) there must have been a lot of shells around once.

I don't believe they're illegal to trade in provided its all done within Australia with vintage and antique shells.
As far as i know its more overseas sales that are tricky and almost impossible to do legally.

You'd be lucky to get that sort of money for one these days from what i've seen with the exception being for unusually large specimens. Even then, $800 or so is about the limit that they tend to go for (outside of fancy overpriced shops that are charging a premium for everything).
They pop up at auction houses once every few months or so and tend to make about $120-$300 depending on the size, colouration and condition of the shell.
I've just always wanted one but have usually discovered them only after they've already sold.

Or, in the case of heavily damaged ones that are past the point of being able to restore them or really use them decoratively i'd like to get my hands on one to have a play around with using the shell itself in some experiments with old tortoiseshell working techniques from a few books i've got.

Not sure about Vic, but in Qld you need a license to hold them and a permit to transport them.

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Not sure about Vic, but in Qld you need a license to hold them and a permit to transport them.

That's rather interesting. It seems like you need a license for just about everything these days...

As far as i know in Victoria its still legal to own and sell them without any paperwork, or at least i didn't have to deal with any 4 or 5 years ago when i bought a couple of small hawksbill shells and later sold them (i've been kicking myself over selling them ever since).

Do you know if the same applies to black corals or ivory? I've bought both online from people in Queensland and had them sent down here with no issues before.

Originally Posted by fudo133

Do you know if the same applies to black corals or ivory?

Not sure, the best was is always to ring or check websites of Dept Env, both Fed and State

Have a read for yourself,

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiv.../cites-species

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiv...icter-measures

Thanks for the links. After reading through them i cant really see a mention of the need for permits and licenses for ownership and sale of endangered turtle species within Australia.
As I'd thought most of it applies to importation/export internationally.

I know they're a critically endangered species and i've no great wish to contribute to that by buying a newly killed one.
I'm just after an old one if someone happens to have decided they would rather sell it than keep it.

Check your state, the permits/licences I mentioned were a QLD requirement