Cowry Shells

27 x 18. cm (11 x 7.25 inches).

Cypraea Xxxvii

This antique lithograph of seashells is from a set by George Brettingham Sowerby Jnr, published in parts in London from about 1842-1886 and is an antique, not a reproduction. It has hand painted colors and is in very good condition.

It's from one of the rarest sets of antique prints featuring seashells - the only other available set in the world we are aware of is for sale for about US $16,000.

George Brettingham Sowerby junior was part of a remarkable family of natural-history illustrators. Their illustrations of seashells took three generations of Sowerbys over forty-five years to complete. (Ref. Dance, 'A History of Shell Collecting', p. 140).