Precious Wentletrap Snail

The Precious Wentletrap (Epitonium scalare) has become the symbol of absolute perfection in nature. This exquisite shell was first seen in Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century when traders brought the first specimens back from Ambon and the other Spice Islands. Catherine II, the Empress of Russia, had a large specimen on a necklace. The Precious Wentletrap is rare wherever it occurs, and this includes the Northern Territory in Australia. So rare and valuable was it 200 years ago that the Japanese made rice paper copies of it. Nowadays these copies are rarer and more valuable than the actual shell!