S e c r e t s

The striking nautilus shell is a familiar sight to most people, but how many know about the creature within? The nautilus can be traced back 500 million years (one heck of a family tree!) and has primitive eyes that lack a lens. So Master Carver Peter Calvesbert has given his model contact lenses which the nautilus is groping around for on the ocean floor. The shell is lined with nacre "Mother of Pearl" which explains the interior inscription "pearl's mum". Peter’s signature mouse hides among the 90 or so tentacles. The Nautilus submarine from the Jules Verne novels lies inside with "Nemo was here" scrawled next to it. The lid has "Fibonacci" written on it. Fibonacci was a thirteenth century mathematician who has amongst other things a sequence of numbers named after him. These numbers crop up a lot in nature, especially spirals in cones and petal numbers in plants. Peter included his name because you can also use the Fibonacci series to draw a perfect nautilus shell. The first few numbers of the sequence are inscribed in the lid, along with the full name of this creature: "Nautilus Pompilius"