Tom Eichhorst wrote,
"Okay, more coins for shells.  My first purchase was from Eisenberg's
"Collector's Cabinet" in New York City.  In fact I still have the catalog
and many prices are still the same.  A Tibia fusus was $15 and an Epitonium
scalare was $10 (both pretty close to today's value) but a Cypraea hesitata
was $3  and a 7 inch Haliotis corrugata was $2 ( both a bit low compared to
today).  The real kicker (because I still don't have one) was the Murex
cervicornis which was $3!!!  Sarah's strawberry tops are listed at 50
cents.  The catalog is dated 1971."
 
Tom, the 1971 dollar was worth about three 1998 dollars. Looks like your
purchases have not increased in value over the years. But I'm sure that
collections of marine shells will eventually become irreplaceable as
habitats degrade and restrictions on collecting increase. These days, the
only way to get every species of North American freshwater mussel is to
collect collections, as the 38-year-old Doug Shelton is doing. This is even
more the case for collections of bird eggs, since it is illegal to collect
any wild bird egg in the United States. Oddly, the result is that
collections of bird eggs are irreplaceable but not very salable, because
few people are interested in buying a collection that they cannot add to.
 
Incidentally, Doug, you don't look 38!
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama