Thank-you KATE and  KEV!!  ( i must stop engaging in "real-time" message
exchanges - the digest version is always 1000 lines behind!!).  The
point  i was trying to make is that when something is sold
internationally, customs ARE in fact legally payable by the reciever,
for the amount that proposition that shells have no "universally
accepted" value (because only a few people are willing to pay for them),
therefore calling them valueless in order to evade customs is perfectly
OK, is a bit beyond my usual methods of thinking.  Most people wouldn't
pay anything for an H-bomb, even if it was offered to them for half a
penny, but that certainly doesn't mean that it has "no value" - some
people would pay a pretty penny indeed for it, just as some people are
quite willing to exchange their pretty pennies for pretty shells - both
are unwanted by the majority of mankind, but both have real monetary
value to someone!!
        Actually, my INITIAL point was that declaring something has little or
no value is not a very useful way to ensure a package's safe arrival,
since if it is insured or registered, it will be either virtually
guaranteed to arrive (registration works!!), or you will be able to (in
most juristictions, ie!) trace it and recover your money if it is lost
(or sometimes if it is damaged by the postal system).  The overwhelming
reason shells which have been assigned a monetary value by a seller and
a purchaser are called "valueless", is for the purpose of tax evasion.
If this causes some to feel guilty, then perhaps it should.
Sticking to my guns,
Ross M.
--
Ross Mayhew:    Schooner Specimen Shells:    Http://www.schnr-specimen-shells.com
"We Specialize in the Unusual"
Phone: (902) 876-2241     Snail Mail; P.O Box 20005, RPO Spryfield,
Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3R 2K9.
But try to find "something for Everyone"!!