Beachcombing Treasures

Well not treasures exactly but a couple of unusual things.

I have a small collection of shells picked up from the beaches around here but I tend not to add to it, since there seems no point in taking things away from the beach, however pretty,  that are more or less exactly the same as the ones I already have. But a recent trip to the 3rd Barrier beach turned up some more unusual ones

First up a very small portion of shell; bright red with small white spots. The spots aren't raised and I have no idea what this might be from. I did wonder if it was a discarded false finger nail at first  but when we picked it up it was definitely a piece of shell. 

And then a large piece of sea urchin shell. This was half buried and we dug around it very carefully in case it was a real and intact urchin but it turned out to be just a partial shell. It's beautiful though; the photo doesn't do the colours justice. I wish I had some wool dyed to match as it would make a lovely subtle shawl.