Well, I might as well throw in my two cents worth on this topic. I'm not sure
how many of you on Conch-L are strict self collectors, but I am. So expensive
shells are of no significance to me, unless I have collected them, which I
have not. I love to look in the shell shops at all the beauties, but I would
not consider buying any to add to my collection. I have some shells given to
me by others, that I display but are not a part of my collection. Even if
someone walking the beach with me found something I didn't have, and wanted
to give it to me, I still wouldn't add it to my collection because I didn't
find it. I'm that strict.
 
So, as odd as it would seem for me, two of the three shells I would grab
first in an emergency are not a part of my collection, but of my display. The
first is a perfect  Strombus alatus my Grandmother found on the beach in
Florida, and gave to me 28 years ago, when I was five years old. I had not
yet visitied Florida yet, I was still in Illinois. I dreamed of finding these
on the beaches there.
 
When I finally moved here to Florida when I was 26, a lady at an apartment
complex where I worked gave me the pick of her bucket - a pail full of shells
her uncle gave her after he worked the shrimp boat in the Keys. Not being
fully into shells the way I am now, I had seen pictures of Junonias and
remembered their being coveted at the time. So, I chose a flawless 147 mm
specimen, stinky and all, and took it home and cleaned it.
 
The third would be a perfect Cymatium femorale I found in the Keys last year.
It was the first thing I stepped on when I went in the water.
 
Just my two cents,
Scott
Florida