Hello Phil, attached is a guideline to cleaning shells, hope this helps. if
you would like to engage in trading i have some florida Liguus that are
rather nice plus several other shells i find here inn florida , all of what
i would send are either in gem or fine condition. all i want it fossil conus
in somewhat decent condition, if any of this sounds iteresting please e-mail
me .
Mark & Peta  Bethke
Hollywood, Florida
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Liff-Grieff <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, August 14, 1998 3:32 AM
Subject: intro and lots of questions
 
 
>I have been lurking on this list for a good while, enjoying the useful
>information, occassional travelogue, and moments of humor. This list has
>all of the qualities of a genuine community with wisdom, character and
>personality all mixed together.
>
>For a bit of an introduction-
>
>I live in Southern California and began to collect local Cenozoic fossil
>mollusks about ten years ago. Since then, I have pursued fossil mollusks
>very seriously and have collected fossils extensively in my local area,
>the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.  About five years ago, I began to
>collect landsnails seriously as well.  Just recently, I began to enter
>into the world of modern marine shells. And what a different world it
>is...
>
>Over the years, I have been able to acquire a fairly large collection of
>fossils through trading local material with fellow collectors in France,
>England, Uruguay, Australia, Italy, Japan, Austria, Canada and, of
>course, the US.  Trading has proven to be a wonderful experience as I've
>"met" some fascinating people while building a decent collection.  In
>exchanges with others, I have always tried to send my trading partners
>the best specimens available and have been generally been very pleased
>with the material that I received in return.  True, an apex may be
>somewhat worn, a spine tip slightly broken or a lip slightly abraded but
>such is the nature of preservation of fossil mollusks.
>
>I have rarely encountered many fossil shells for sale and have,
>therefor, rarely purchased any.  I have exhibited fossil mollusks in a
>number of shows (fossil, gem and mineral shows) and have usually done
>quite well in competition.
>
>Suddenly, I've encountered a new world that assigns a specific monetary
>value to every shell and uses codes like F, F+++ and GEM to address
>every detail of a shell's condition.   Frankly, its all a bit
>intimidating to a new collector who would like to be "serious".  But,
>when you see specimens selling for thousands of dollars, the thought of
>developing a fairly extensive collection of any genus is somewhat
>daunting.
>
>Even so, I have been plugging away in earnest and have a number of very
>basic questions for the veterans on this list:
>
>1) How (where?) does one collect in Southern California?  I have been
>reading about the shelling restrictions in California and I wondered
>what local collectors do if they are interested in picking up local
>species while remaining within the limits of the law.  Do the beach
>collecting restrictions apply to the islands off the coast as well?
>
>2)  Assuming that one answer is diving, how do dive boat captains react
>to shellers?  Are there general suggestions for finding boats where
>shelling is welcome or ways to avoid those where it is not?
>
>3) What sorts of collecting bags/bottles/etc. do people prefer for
>snorkling?  How about for diving?  Why?
>
>4) What is the best way to get rid of coralline algae?  I've noticed
>that quite a few of the shells in our local tidepools are fairly well
>encrusted and encountered many shells in Hawaii completely coated with
>the white or pink gunk.
>
>5)  Any shelling suggestions for Maui and Kauai?  I plan to visit both
>islands in December.
>
>
>(I know that some of these questions have been covered somewhat in
>recent threads but I haven't been able to distill out the specific
>answers I'm looking for.)
>
>I apologize for going on a little too long and for unleashing too many
>questions on the list at one time.  But, you know how eager us novices
>can be..............
>
>Looking forward to continuing to learn much from this very special
>community.
>
>
>Phil Liff-Grieff
>La Crescenta, California
>[log in to unmask]
>