Beautiful, Old, Fully Formed, Rare, coco de mer Basket

Coco3.  A Beautiful, Old, Fully Formed, Rare, Vintage Polished coco de mer, Carved in the Shape of Two Joint Baskets.  The baskets rest on handmade pedestal.  Total  height of the coco de mer is 9.75 inches; its length is 10 inches; its width is 4.5 inches.  It weighs little over 2 pounds and 2.5 ounces.  The present coco de mer is nicely carved and sculptured into a double basket, with dark brown patina and a wonderful and typically suggestive shape.  The rim of coco de mer is fluted along the edge of the basket.  In very good condition, with no damages or cracks.  The Coco-de-mer nut (Lodoicea maldivica) is the largest seed in the world, which was first discovered by sailors washed up on tropical beaches or floating in the sea, and so was given its name (coconut of the sea). The nuts take 6 to 7 years to grow to full size.  Lodoicea maldivica, the sole member of the genus Lodoicea, is a palm endemic to the islands of Praslin and Curieuse in the Seychelles.  It formerly was grown in St Pierre, Chauve-Souris and Round Islands in the Seychelles group, but has become extinct on these islands.  This one was treasured by its former owner for many years and was a gift from a wealthy local estate owner for services rendered.  The coco-de-mer is the subject of many legends, and is a truly fascinating and provocative tree. There are both male and female trees, and the seeds of both mirroring closely the human sexual organs. It is said that during the night the male and female trees move together to sew their seeds, and anyone who witnesses the act will die.  They are an endangered species and are therefore carefully protected and controlled by the Seychelles government.  It grows to 25-34 meter tall. The leaves are fan-shaped, 7-10 meter long and 4.5 meter wide with a 4 meter petiole. It is dioecious, with separate male and female plants. The male flowers are catkin-like, up to 1 meter long. The mature fruit is 40-50 cm diameter and weighs 15-30 kilogram, and contains the largest seed in the plant kingdom. The fruit, which requires 6-7 years to mature and a further two years to germinate, is sometimes also referred to as the sea coconut, double coconut, coco fesse, or Seychelles nut.  The Seychelles nut was once believed to be a sea-bean or drift seed, a seed designed to be dispersed by the sea. However, it is now known that the viable nut is too heavy to float, and only rotted out nuts can be found on the sea surface; this explains why the trees are limited in range to just a few islands. The sailors who first saw the nut floating in the sea imagined that it resembled a woman's disembodied buttocks. This fanciful association is reflected in one of the plant's archaic botanical names, Lodoicea callypige Comm. ex J. St.-Hil., in which callipyge is from Greek words meaning 'beautiful rump'. Other botanical names used in the past include Lodoicea sechellarum Labill. and Lodoicea sonneratii (Giseke) Baill  Until the true source of nut was discovered in 1768, it was believed by many to grow on a mythical tree at the bottom of the sea; European nobles in the sixteenth century would often have the shells of these nuts cleaned and decorated with valuable jewels as collectibles for their private galleries. The coco de mer is now a rare protected species.  The name of the genus, Lodoicea, is derived from Lodoicus, the Latinised form of Louis, in honor of King Louis XV of France.  The species is grown as an ornamental tree in many areas in the tropics, and subsidiary populations have been established on Mahé and Silhouette Islands in the Seychelles to help conserve the species.  Such coco de mer nuts are very hard to find these days and this one is in superb condition with no cracks or damage at all. The patination is deep, lustrous & a wonder to behold.  Because of its amazing likeness to the human female form it makes a fantastic ornament, conversation piece, and having one, legend has it, will improve one's sex life!   [code:c03]    

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