Yesterday, I saw a piece of sales information about an old pair of tortoise crystal eyeglasses on the internet. I was shocked by the price that was $8,000. I had never heard that a pair of eyeglasses could be sold at such a high price, so I searched some information about tortoise eyeglasses to check why they could be so expensive.
After searching, I have come to know that tortoise is a kind of international protected species whose carapaces can be used for making exquisite decorations. Tortoise lives in the deep sea, hunting the inhabited islands of South Pacific Ocean. Its carapace is smooth and with unique luster. For the tortoise eyeglasses made by hand, most of which the colors are closed to amber; moreover, they are warm, exquisite, luxurious and elegant. For this reason, the eyeglasses frames made from tortoise carapace are quite expensive and worth collecting.
In addition, our ancestors deemed that if someone wore a pair of eyeglasses consisting of the lenses that were grinded from natural crystal and the frame made from tortoise carapace, he would have a cool feeling and his eyes could be protected in this way. Nowadays, a pair of tortoise eyeglasses of the Ming and Qing dynasties is priced at approximate $13,000; even a pair of processed tortoise eyeglasses can be sold at $3,000~$4,000. They are luxuries through and through.
Here I want to mention that if you see a pair of tortoise eye glasses being sold at several hundred dollars or even less, don’t expect it is true. Such eyeglasses are only knock offs or fakes. So if you want to buy authentic tortoise eyeglasses, you must check the price first.