Shell Collecting

shell collecting, practice of finding and usually identifying the shells of mollusks, a popular avocation, or hobby, in many parts of the world. These shells, because of their bright colours, rich variety of shapes and designs, and abundance along seashores, have long been used for ornaments, tools, and coins. Aristotle and Pliny the Elder wrote extensively about them. In the ruins of ancient Pompeii and in a crypt in a Mayan pyramid in Yucatán, shells were found that may be the remains of ancient collections.

Shell collecting as it is understood today, in the manner of coin, stamp, and china collecting, is of more recent origin, reaching its apex in England during the late 18th and early and middle 19th centuries. This was the period of the burgeoning Pacific and China trade; new islands were being discovered, and the shells found there were first imported as curiosities, later as specimens for the collectors among the newly rich merchant princes. This period reached its highest point in the 1850s and ’60s, when shell auctions became a common occurrence and relatively high prices were paid for particularly rare and perfect specimens. There followed a period of relative decline, probably because many formerly rare shells suddenly became common as their haunts were discovered and exploited. Nevertheless, shells are so strikingly interesting and beautiful in themselves that the hobby was rapidly revived.

The shell itself is the exoskeleton (external skeleton) of a soft-bodied mollusk. Composed mainly of calcium carbonate, the shell is secreted by the animal and provides protection as well as support for various organs. (See seashell.) The animal is bound securely to the shell and generally cannot survive separation from it. Most marine mollusks are able to shut themselves off completely from their watery world when they find themselves in danger by closing their aperture by a horny or calcareous door, or operculum. The careful collector makes it a point to preserve the door with the shell in his collection. After a mollusk has died other marine animals may become occasional inhabitants of the shells.

The rarest, the most valuable, and the most beautiful shells are those that are found in the sea, particularly in tropical or subtropical waters of the Indo-Pacific, Caribbean, and Mediterranean regions. Outstanding among these marine shells are various members of the families Cypraeidae (cowrie shells), Conidae (cone shells), Volutidae (volute shells), and Muricidae (rock shells). One of the rarest and most desirable single species is Conus gloriamaris, a handsome cone shell that is the “glory of the sea.” This shell always commands a very good price on the market, and it is the only shell known to have been stolen from a large museum.

The comparative rarity of some shell species and the abundance of others primarily results from the habits of the mollusks themselves. Many species live only in the intertidal zone on sandy or rocky shores. Such shells are most easily collected, since one only need wait for a low tide to begin gathering them. In this intertidal zone some very attractive shells are found, e.g., the glistening, richly coloured Olividae (olive shells), Naticidae (moon shells), and Strombidae (strombs), as well as Terebridae (augur shells) and many bivalves (clams) that burrow in water-soaked sand. On the rocks and under them are found Littorinidae (periwinkles), Turbinidae (turban shells), and limpets, as well as the Chitonidae (pill bug, or coat of mail shells). By contrast, the rarest and costliest volutes, cones, cowries, and rock shells live only in deep water and are obtained by dredging or straining or through the efforts of fishermen who haul them in with their catch. Large numbers of shell species also live in freshwater or on land, but these tend to be less popular with collectors because of their small size or drab colouring.

Shells need little service to be stored. Once the shell is reasonably well cleaned and provided with a complete label, it can remain unaltered for years in a drawer or cabinet.

Most collectors tend to specialize, since there are about 100,000 shell species known. Some collectors limit themselves to particular localities. Such specialists frequently contribute valuable scientific data on exact locality and life habits of many mollusks. Some collectors gather only specimens of the single species of a shell that typifies a particular genus. Such a collection is a valuable lesson in taxonomy and evolution and gives an insight into the entire field of conchology, the study of shells.

The equipment of the shell collector includes some sort of tool to scrape away the sand or leaves; a knife to detach rock-clinging mollusks from their perches; a hammer and chisel to remove rock borers from their nests; a sieve to strain out specimens from shallow water; a notebook to record locality and ecological data; and a library of books on shells to aid identification.