In an earlier message when the topic of Conus sennottorum came
up, as it has again today  I told a long story about how I came to know
the shell and acquire some back in the early 50s.  The story
continues ( you know where the delete button is if you've had enough...)

After we (my family) left Fort Myers Beach where I had met
the Sennotts, we drove to Key West.  One day my mother took
me shopping and there were several shell-specimen-and souvenir
stores. We went in one and among other things there was a basket:
"Anything in this basket is 25 cents" said the sign.  I looked
through it and there was a little white spotted cone. I immediately
recognized it as a C. sennottorum. I went up to the owner and
said I thought this was a rare shell and should it be in the
basket ? He snapped, "It's a Chinese Alphabet Cone!".  So I bought
it for quarter along with a huge, holey, crusty pair of lion's
paws that was  also there. That emptied my young-teenager pockets.

With the cone in my  hand, we went in another shop. There in the case
was a beautiful pair of lemon yellow Aequipecten muscosus. I had
to have them - but I didn't have the $5.00 price.  Then I got an
idea. "Would you like to buy this Conus sennottorum from me ?
It's rare !", I asked the more knowledgeable owner of this shop
as I proffered the shell.. He offered me several dollars for it (I don't
remember how much), my generous mother kicked in the rest -- and I still
have that gorgeous muscosus, 50 years later ! (Were my mother still alive,
she'd corroborate the story; we often reminisced about it for
years. She'd remember how I kept examining it in the car as we
drove all the way back North from Key West to New York.)

It's the stories (not to speak of the beautiful shells) that make
me love shelling !

Karen

PS -The lion's paws didn't clean up very well. I still have those too.