Excuse me Rika but the laws of supply and demand apply to just about everything. If I have a gallon of gas and everyone needs
it then why not set the price as high as possible. It's the prices that are set not because they are difficult to obtain but
just because the supply is being hoarded.
When I was a conus collector , I looked all over trying to find a rather common shell that seemed to be non-existent now, the
shell of question was a conus generalis (yellow form) , it took two years, many inquiries and finally I located one , priced
5-6 times higher then the normal generalis.
Then there is another factor that needs addressing here , there are two types of collectibles, those of a true value and
those of a artificial value. I guess and example would be needed here , ok, you like commeritive plates, you see a plate with
Elvis on it an a high price , you think "hey if it's worth  $200.00 now it will definitely be worth much more later on "
WRONG, this is a artificially created value that has little to do with rarity. I actuality if you resell the plate even the
day you get it most likely you will get only half it's worth. baseball cards are different, real value , (with a few
exceptions ) they are not created but are found . so if I buy a Pete Rose rookie card , mint , and pay $200.00 , when I
resell it it will most likely be worth double of what I paid for it .
So what does this have to do with sea shells? shells are like those Elvis plates , it's very rare when you can get even half
the worth when reselling . And value isn't really set by a book as many I've purchased have been way over book value (I never
said I was a rocket scientist) and try an sell a collection you'll be happy to get 1/4 the value even if you think you have
the best, biggest,boldest or strangest.
Weasel
-----Original Message-----
From: Fernand De Donder <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, March 24, 2000 4:21 PM
Subject: price and rarity


|I hesitated a while to react on the topic of prices and rarity because I am
|a dealer myself and maybe some of you would see it as publicity.  Still I
|think it might be good to see things from 'the other side'.  I do not agree
|with Paul Monfils who says that low supply and high demand set the prices
|of seashells.  For the moment there is a high demand for the smaller
|families (Nassariidae, Trochidae, Rissoidae, Neritidae etc...) and there is
|a lesser demand for larger families like Cypraeidae, Conidae etc.. Yet the
|prices do not really change.
|
|My experience is that more and more collectors nowadays collect and
|specialize in smaller families and stay away from the more expensive
|families like Cypraeidae,Conidae and Muricidae.  Collecting a smaller
|family has indeed a lot of advantages : it is easier to obtain the complete
|family in order to specialize and study, one can easily keep more than one
|specimen of a certain species (different localities, colour variations...)
|and one does not have to spend thousands of dollars.
|
|I think it is a question of rarity and accessability.  Deep water species
|will always be high priced, whether they are Mitridae, Nassariidae or
|Cypraeidae, just because they are hard to get.  Nerites live mainly
|intertidally and are as such easily obtained and thus cheap.  But a deep
|water Nerit can therefore easily be priced at 50 $ or more, because of its
|rarity.  Of course also the quality of shells is a factor which determines
|the price, whether the shell has an operculum or not, whether the data are
|complete...
|
|Yet even if a specimen is common, I think dealers are still allowed to ask
|more then 0,5 $ for a shell.  If I go to France in order to do some
|weedwashings and as such collect some Rissoidae I did have to pay for the
|trip and the material.  When I get home I have to determine the specimens
|by microscope.  As a general dealer I do need a lot of books (all areas,
|all families, specialized literature and magazines).  When I have put a
|name on the shells, I have to sellect them for quality, clean them, put in
|the operculum (not with the Rissoidae of course but with lots of other
|families), catalogue them in the computer, type labels, put the shells in a
|box or a plastic bag...
|
|I really love shells and with some of the Philippine deep water material I
|can spend hours browsing through books and magazines in order to (maybe)
|find a name and I really like this, yet it takes time and sometimes a lot
|of patience.  Sometimes collectors do not realize that there is a lot of
|work involved before a shell comes on a list, so I hope the above will help
|some collectors to understand why a shell has a certain price.
|
|Regards,
|Rika
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|*********************************************************
|
|Fernand De Donder & Rika Goethaels
|Melsbroeksestraat 21
|1800 Vilvoorde - Peutie
|tel 0032 (0)2 253 99 54
|fax 0032 (0)2 252 37 15
|Specimen shells & books on shells, free lists on request
|10 min from Zaventem Brussels airport - visitors welcome
|