SIR THOMAS of the HOT LANDS,,, I guess it show's that Women are smarter.
I've been wasting my time collecting the serial killers of the seas(conus)
but my wife (Peta) collects Muricidae . though she doesn't seem to like the
ugly "no frills" type . she;s a collector for all the right reasons , she
thinks they are pretty. Sort of reminds me of bowling, first you start out
by throwing a heavy plastic ball down a narrow alley at a bunch of wooden
pegs and hope to hit something, IT'S FUN.  soon someone with a wrist guard,
bowling shirt , bad comb over and drinking a lucky lager tells ya' to "put
your feet together, twist this way or that, swing your arms around like a
gorrillla and basically walk real funny not to mention
CONCENTRATE,CONCENTRATE, CONCENTRATE", soon all the funs gone .
So to all you muricidae , I mean,  MUREX collectors good luck , find a
frilly shell and enjoy it........
 
Mark James & Peta Susan Bethke
3001 South Ocean Dr. Suite 4-V
Hollywood, Florida
33019-2804
U.S.A.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
>Interesting that you settled on muricids as one of the most popular
>groups.  I have always liked them and thought they were popular but just
>a year or two (or three, or...) ago I seem to remember a note by Ross
>Mayhew about the difficulty of selling murex shells.  At the time I
>thought they must fall behind cypraea and cones in popularity plus they
>can be much tougher to clean, easy to chip, difficult to pack (at least
>for the large ones), and maybe higher in price on average (only if you
>do not include the astronomically priced cones like C. adamsoni or
>similar cypraea like C. leucodon).  So maybe the numbers of muricids
>pictured does not reflect the numbers collected or sold.  A dealer with
>a way with computers and his database could probably tell us the
>percentage sold of different families.
>
>Well, time to go buy a tree to replace one that gave up the ghost this
>winter.  In a week or so we will need all of the shade we can get.
>
>A final note, new subject -- mail.  I am beginning to think I have lost
>my first package in the mail.  It was sent to Canada and we are in the
>forth week with no delivery.  I just sent another package to the same
>person, so we will see if it is also months in route.  Regrettably, the
>first package was a shell I only had one of -- so no replacement if it
>indeed never shows up.  I did learn that if you want to register the
>package you can't have slick mailing tape all over it (as I always do
>because like many of you I am reusing a dealer's box).
>
>Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA
>