Not swiss cheese - cottage cheese!  I ought to be a cheese expert, I eat enough of it.
 
NORA BRYAN wrote:
 
> Well said Ross!  In fact I even like a small amount of epifauna on some shells (two
> for the price of one!).  Growth lines and pathologies add to the interest of a shell.
>
> One of my favorite shells is a Whitecap Limpet whose entire inner and outer surface
> is completely bumpy - like swiss cheese.  I'm endlessly curious about whatever might
> have caused that.
> We do too much to our own bodies to conform to some idea of perfection, it's a good
> thing the mulluscs don't know about our judgments on them or maybe  there would be a
> whole new field of mullusc psychology to deal with - Are those spines natural, or did
> that insecure mollusc go to the surgeon to get spine-enhancement treatments?
>
> Ross Mayhew wrote:
>
> > 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"!!