Dear Conchlers,

another couple of shell collectors are my mother and I. My mother was it, who started collecting, when
I passed my holidays in Jesolo together with my parents, beginning in 1960. At this time, aged 7 years,
I played in the sand and built up castles or cakes of sand, which I ornamented with shells. Then
we brought the shells at our home in Innsbruck, where I wanted to play with the shells, but soon I lost
the interess. So it was starting my mother to get interest and my father (who died in 1977) bought the
first book of shells. In the following years my mother begun beach collecting at Jesolo and with a
few landshells from the Tyrol. To get together a nice collection the first years she bought cheap,
but nice, not to rare shells, later then also some rare shells. Since 1980 this was the great change.
My mother started to revise the old shell collection at the museum in Innsbruck, since 1980 we
worked together, but since the shell collection has been transferred to the new rooms, I am
the "sayer" and my mother is helping me very much. So shell collecting and revising jumped
over from mother to son.
with best shelling greetings
Helmut

Helmut "Helix" Nisters
Franz-Fischer-Str. 46
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Innsbruck
phone and fax: 0043 / 512 / 57 32 14
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
web:    www.netwing.at/nisters/

office:
Natural History Department of the
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Innsbruck
Feldstrasse 11 a
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 58 72 86 - 37