Hello all. My name is Norman Haase and I'm in need of immediate help from
any of the experts on the list who'd care to offer it. I'm a total novice
concerning your specialty. Rather, my area of interest, and recently
business, is fountain pens. Here's my dilemma.
 
I recently place an order with Shangai Hero Pen Co. in China for a number of
different fountain pens which I plan on marketing here. I chose FedEx for
shipment of this initial order, and have run into a severe problem. My
shipment has been sitting in Anchorage, Alaska for the past 5 days - seized
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The reason? One of the pen models has
a shell covering, and the agency requires that I supply them with the
scientific name of the shell material used, i.e. genus and species.
Unfortunately, the past 5 days have been a national holiday in China, and I
was only able to get an email response from them last night. The only
information which they supplied (and perhaps the only information they
know), is "conch". I will contact them again this evening, and try to
explain more fully what is needed, but the language barrier is a real
problem. All I have to go on is a picture of the pen itself in their
catalog. Looking at conch shells on the Internet, the coloration of the
King's Crown looks somewhat similar, but that's only a guess. There are only
4 shell-covered pens in my order of several hundred, but if they do not get
the proper information tomorrow, the entire shipment must be returned to
China!
 
If anyone could please supply the scientific and common names of likely
common conch shells, native to China, which are not endangered, I would be
ever so grateful. I realize that the FWS has a legitimate responsibility to
protect endangered species, and I certainly have no desire to traffic in
such, but I have at least been assured by China that this is a very common
shell found on any beach. If my understanding was correct, the shell is
conical, almost like an elongated ice-cream cone (I apologize for my total
ignorance of your interest here - I know how annoying it can be when people
through around meaningless terms in regard to fountain pens!).
 
If anyone can offer advice - and quickly - I would be very grateful.
 
Sincerely,
 
Norman Haase