Claudette,
Some info to help:
The display cases and fixtures may be worth more than the shells.
Most collectors will want to buy specific families only; not the whole lot.
Shipping out of the area (by any manner) is expensive.
Dealers will offer you 50% or less of retail (they have to make a profit on
resale).
Museums might accept the collection, but some require you to establish an
endowment to maintain them or even enter them into their systems.

Having said all that - let me know when you establish the price/value that
will satisfy you.  I have a personal interest; I am planning a shell museum
for kids at my place in Middletown, DE.  If the price is right - I'll make
room.

Sam Tuttle

www.streetsmartbooks.com
Home of SMALL BUSINESS PRIMER:
  How to Buy, Sell & Evaluate a Business
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>From: Claudette Beaudoin <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Request for knowledge
>Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:31:42 -0500
>
>Good day everyone,
>
>I have been enjoying the information that has been available through this
>group. Most of it is over my head but it has been enlightening. Here's my
>story:
>
>
>
>      From the time I was 3 years old I remember collecting shells on the
>seashore. Fast forward to 30 years later when I was making jewelry and
>photo
>cards from shells and came upon an opportunity to purchase a large grouping
>of shells from someone who owned a shell shop in Newport, RI but had failed
>in the business. Now 15 years later I still have many of those shells, many
>cone varieties, most still in the glass cases that were used in the store.
>I
>have been trying to label them over the years and now that brings me to the
>present. Are there people out there that research and appraise collections?
>If so, how does one go about finding them and how does one go about selling
>a collection without getting ripped off?
>
>Thank you for your time and knowledge.
>
>
>
>You may reply to me personally at [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Claudette Beaudoin
>
>Annapolis, MD
>

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