10-12-2008, 02:55 AM
It doesn't look like the dye has gotten any cheaper though one article claimed that 12,000-20,000 shellfish had to be used to obtain 1.5 grams of dye so perhaps that accounts for it. Not quite 20 times the value of gold, but still not far from it.
I haven't seen anything that supported the murex's extinction. The reason for the dye disappearing wasn't due to lack of materials but the fad had passed and Cardinals purple replaced it.
I haven't seen anything that supported the murex's extinction. The reason for the dye disappearing wasn't due to lack of materials but the fad had passed and Cardinals purple replaced it.
Derek D. Estabrook
