A Large Natural History Specimen of a Giant Clam Shell c.1900 sub-Fairground-Sideshow & Circus now with a nice patination

now with a nice patination and story to it

These pieces have become extremely collectable and so have been reproduced since the middle part of the 19th century and this piece is a typical example of these later copies

There is shipbuilding going on to the foreground with several unfinished figures busying themselves on the shoreline

with the foot in order and the transfers and blue detailing all slightly faded but still readable

whilst Blue Verditer for instance was more widely used in the mid 18th century

A Large Natural History Specimen of a Giant Clam Shell c.1900 sub-Fairground-Sideshow & Circus now with a nice patinationOrigin: South Pacific Indian Ocean Period: Early 20thC Provenance: Unknown Date: c. 1900 Height: 11 Depth: 18 Width: 27 (all at maximum) The large preserved giant clam shell (Tridacna gigas), with four vertical folds, surviving in beautifully weathered condition from the south pacific or Indian oceans and from the zeniths of the nineteenth century. The specimen is in super condition with very few chipped losses. She sits both ways, as it were, stably