This isn’t much of a suggestion, but I would let them soak in as concentrated an alcohol as you can find, for much longer than that (weeks anyway, changing the alcohol regularly) and afterwards give the shells plenty of time to dry out completely. Don't put them back into a ziplock bag!

(Usually when shells stink like that it is because part of the digestive gland broke off when the body was being extracted. That glad is oily and stinks a very great deal when it rots.)

You have to hope that this trapped and partially rotted piece of tissue will eventually dry out completely, and then hardly stink at all. But that takes time! And I mean years.

Some people say to put a few drops of this or that up onto the spire, but in think in most cases that probably just masks the smell.

However, maybe someone else will have a better suggestion?

Susan J. Hewitt
NYC


On Apr 25, 2014, at 7:01 AM, Martin Walker <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I have acquired seashells (esp. cones, but not exclusively) from overseas dealers that, a year after acquisition, smell
> terrible when released from their ziplock bags. The shells look fine, operculum on cotton wool, and perfectly
> clean-looking. I have been resoaking in methylated spirits for a couple of days, but this doesn't always fix the smell.
> I am careful to rotate the shells into the meths to allow it to penetrate up the to the higher whorls.
> Has anyone any other suggestions?
> Thanks in advance,
> Martin
>
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