chicken shell

noun

chicken shell

noun

1

The shell of young oysters, harvested for pearls and for use in ornamental work.

Port Essington, one of the "likeliest" places, proved its reputation, and the fishers raised what is known as the best kind of "chicken shell" without any diving appliances whatever.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 274:

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