The Shell Forger
I didn’t plan to be a seashell forger.
I saw one once: rounded mottled back, with a narrow ridged opening underneath. Easy enough to carve from a piece of antler.
My neighbors snickered as I kept carving my shells. My village was far from the sea, that mythical place where all rivers went to die.
Then a foreign trader came. His eyes glittered when he saw my “shells”. He traded for half of them and suddenly, I was the richest man in the village.
Now I have a guard to keep the rest of my collection safe from my neighbors.
Seashells, especially cowrie shells, were used as money in many places in the past
The Green-Walled Treehouse 
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I saw one once: rounded mottled back, with a narrow ridged opening underneath. Easy enough to carve from a piece of antler. Love your opening.
What a great photograph to be inspired with and as usual, your fictional flash shined brightly. 🙂
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Thank you, my friend. I always try to find a way to write something different than the picture suggests. Sometimes I’m more successful than others.
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Today you hit a homer. 🙂
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Love it! Some of the world’s greatest inventors were in the same boat at one point in their lives.
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Thanks Bon Lee. Yeah, a lot of things started with someone just tinkering by themselves to see what would come out of it.
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Brings to mind Hubby’s fave movie “October Sky”. 🙂
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Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown
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There’s that aspect as well. It’s hard being nouveau riche as well, especially when people don’t think you deserve it.
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Very nicely crafted! Intriguing thought, simulating seashells! Producing counterfeit “money’? I also never thought of the sea as the cemetery for all rivers!
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Thanks, padre. I’m sure if it’s possible, there’s someone out there someone doing it. Of course, I don’t know how easily you could pass off a fake seashell to someone who has seen a lot, but that’s for another story, I guess. 🙂
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One man’s junk…
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Yeah, really. It reminds me of the “artwork” that sold for 6.2 million lately which is a banana taped to a wall with duct tape. I mean, if that’s art, I can make that. 🙂
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LOL
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David, I was drawn in by the title. Didn’t shells used to be a form of currency in the Polynesian Islands? Good spin on the pic.
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Yeah, I was looking it up and lot of cultures used them, in Polynesia but also in Africa and the Middle East as well.
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Seashell forger. I didn’t see that one coming. Good one.
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Thanks, James!
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Beautiful idea! And I love how his investment in art paid off in the end. Great take on the prompt.
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Thanks, Angela. Yes, that’s a good way to look at it. Do art for its own sake and you never know where it will lead. Thanks for reading.
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Dear David,
A shell forger. That’s an interesting concept. Imaginative story as always.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle. I’ve never heard of such a thing but I’m sure someone has tried it, especially if it was used as money.
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I love an entrepreneurial streak, particularly when exhibited in the face of derision. Well done David.
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Thanks, Sandra. In my own life, I often learn things that only pay off much later, so maybe I’m channeling that. 🙂
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