Dear Tom:

An interesting query.  I do not know if Tryon would qualify as a dealer but
in the American Journal of Conchology No. 1 (Feb. 1865) He listed 102
species of land and freshwater mollusks collected from from Davenport, Iowa
by Prof. D.S. Sheldon. In the next issue Tryon offered offered them for sale
or exchange. The price was "$20 per Suite or 25 cents per species. The
collection averages 5 specimens to each species."

In that same issue the collection of a Wiliam Cooper of Hoboken, NJ, was
being offered for sale but that would not be what you are looking for.

There are ads for shell dealers in some of the very earliest issues of The
Conchologists Exhange (now The Nautilus) dating back to 1885 so there must
have been some established dealers earlier.  I will keep watch and let you
know if I find any earlier references. There are probably many.

Regards,

dick

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