I'll probably lose some business for this posting, but here goes anyway.
 I urge anyone in a judgemental mood to read through to the very end,
where i put things into perspective somewhat!
 
        Shells are natural objects, and as such, they are very seldom perfect:
a mollusc does what it must to survive - predators, waves, temperature
and other environmental changes, diseases, epiphytic organisms (those
that live on hoard surfaces (barnacles, jingle shells, bryozoans,
coralline algae...), boring critters, and so on.  Even amongst
shiny/smooth/overpriced beasties such as the cowries, true "GEM"
specimens are quite rare (athough you would not know this by looking at
some dealers' lists!!!).  Furthermore, most shells are fragile, and in
the often-lengthy process of capture, cleaning, passing through
middlemen, shipping, storing, etc., it is a miracle that ANY specimen
comes through 100% intact!!   I like to say if you want perfection, buy
plastic bric-a-brac : given good quality-control procedures, they are
qute perfect, and can be turned out by the thousands in their flawless
blandness.  Now, i am **not** saying that an absolutely perfect specimen
with superior colors and pattern cannot be a thing of great beauty, but
why cannot more people see the beauty that can be found in spcimens
which are not quite so immaculate??  Why do so many collectors take one
look at a shell with, say a lip chip or two or a growth line, and just
throw it away or send it back, without appreciating the colors, patterns
and form of the rest of the shell: why do so many people only look for
irregularities, and once they find any they look no further: for them,
any natural beauty a specimen may posess is destroyed by the smallest of
faults!! (Do not think that i am making this up- i had a friend who
bought a beautiful gloriamaris once, but it had a small growth mark, and
he told me he just couldn't look at it without dwelling upon that small
mark, so that for him, the shell was ruined.)  Personally, i feel sorry
for someone like this, because they are unable to appreciate 99.9% of
the beauty all around them, since they are so concerned about any little
defect that this is all they really care about in the end.  Perfection
is equated with beauty itself, and any beauty which occuring in a
less-than-flawless specimen is either ignored, dicounted, or not even
fully seen.
 
  Personaly, i sometimes find a few deviations from absolute regularity
to be a desirable thing - they give a specimen character, by testifying
to the struggles its previous owner faced and overcame in life: they are
mute reminders that the shell is REAL - it came from a rugged, demanding
natural world, and not from a preformed, perfectly smooth and regular
mould created by man.  So, to retire from this rant for now, i give the
following advice: Don't be a "GemManiac" - you may be missing more
beauty than you might think!!!  Shells are natural objects, and the very
few which grow up absolutely "GEM", are in one sense, freaks. (of
course, some people collect freaks, so i should not be so harsh!!!)
 
        Now, before everyone draws the conclusion that i am a "junk merchant"
just trying to get people to settle for sub-standard products (although
i do not see a shell as a "product", so much as a little work of "Art by
God" (to borrow a phrase from another dealer!!)), i must add that i try
hard to get the highest quality i can, but i will NOT discard a shell
which retains much of its beauty in spite of  imperfections, although i
will most certainly price such a specimen, even if quite exeptional
and/or unusual, **much** lower than an F++ - GEM specimen which may be
far less attractive.  I am just rather disappointed that so many
collectors place a far greater value on perfection than on actual
beauty, and in the cases where the battle-scars of life actually
enhance, character.
--
Ross Mayhew:    Schooner Specimen Shells:    Http://www.schnr-specimen-shells.com
"We Specialize in the Unusual"
Phone: (902) 876-2241     Snail Mail; P.O Box 20005, RPO Spryfield,
Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3R 2K9.
But try to find "something for Everyone"!!