At 03:13 PM 6/9/99 -0400, you wrote:
>As I understand it they supplied the buttons for the button industry from top
>shells. When plastics came about there went their business, but before that
>oil was discovered in the Orient and the only fleet of ships that was
>available to start shipping the oil (in barrels in those days) was the shell
>oil companies. Now I think I read that someplace, but as I get older my
>memory isn't always what it use to be, so it may just be another urban
>legend. Or is it?
>
>Frank Walker
>

Well, the version I heard was that the company started out selling shells
with a gas pump outside as a sideline, which quickly became more
profitable. The company's emblem is supposed to be the lemon form of
Lindapecten muscosus, known to all collectors. And I think I read this
someplace, too...




*****************************************
 G Thomas Watters
 Ohio Biological Survey &
 Aquatic Ecology Laboratory
 Ohio State University
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 Columbus, OH 43212 USA
 v: 614-292-6170  f: 614-292-0181
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