Shell Shocked - Sepia Saturday

When I saw Alan's prompt this week my first thoughts were of the thousands of servicemen who suffered from shell shock in the First World War but eventually I decided a lighter touch was required.

I don't have a tortoise as a pet and the nearest thing we see, two for the price of one, are:

Two Small Tortoiseshells

You know I like to show photos of dogs but try as I might I could not find one suitable and settled instead for:

Tortoiseshell Cat

(By Rehman Abubakr - CC BY-SA 3.0)

By chance I found out that Horace Walpole (1717-1779) once had a tortoiseshell tabby cat that met an untimely death - it drowned in a goldfish bowl. The poet Thomas Gray, a friend of Walpole, wrote an ode to commemorate the cat which was called Selima. Part of the tribute reads:

Her conscious tail her joy declared;

The fair round face, the snowy beard,

    The velvet of her paws,

Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,

Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes.

     She saw; and purred applause.

However tortoises and turtles have been exploited by man and their shells used in all sort of applications like this:

Tortoiseshell and Silver Snuffbox - early 18th Century

The plaque is stamped with a portrait of Charles I (1625-1649) based on a medal by John Roettiers of about 1670. The Huguenot John Obrisset worked in London between 1705-28 specialising in horn and tortoiseshell. (This photo was taken as part of Britain Loves Wikipedia at the Victoria and Albert Museum in February 2010 by Valerie McGlinchey - CC BY-SA 2.0).

I'm sure that you will be pleased to confirm that no tortoise came to grief for the next picture I have to show:

Jin (Jurchen) Dynasty Tortoise - Temple of Confucius, Qufu

(By Vmenkov - CC BY-SA 3.0,2.5,2.0 and 1.0)

This stele is in the third pavilion (from the east) of the Thirteen Pavilions in the Temple.

This 'fellow,' much smaller in comparison, had been intent on laying eggs in the grass of my daughter's Michigan home last summer. I can confirm that she was returned safely to the swamp from which she came. Oh and she is not a tortoise at all)

Snapping turtle (11inches long)

I hope I haven't shocked you too much with my take on the theme so I'll sign of with a collection of shells.

I just wonder how old these are.

Please don't forget to check out others' interpretations at Sepia-saturday-164