Horseshoe Crab Paperweight

This sterling silver paperweight, shaped like a horseshoe crab, symbolizes the natural and cultural resources of both Fire Island and the William Floyd Estate.

Horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) are abundant on the bayside beaches and saltmarshes of Fire Island National Seashore. Their protein-rich eggs are an important food source to migrating shorebirds, especially the federally protected Red Knot (Calidris canutus), which rests on Fire Island during its 9000 mile migration from the arctic to South America. While protected from harvest within the boundary of the Seashore, horseshoe crabs are used by fisherman as bait and their blood has applications within the medical industry.

This sterling silver horseshoe crab paperweight was an anniversary gift from Jolin T. Nichols to his wife, Cornelia Floyd Nichols, the great-great granddaughter of William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Cornelia Floyd Nichols donated the William Floyd Estate on Long Island to the National Park Service, and many of the park's museum collections are associated with this estate.