Seems i always come in late on these delightful discussions, but i may
as well share my singular experience with "Shelle Shoppes"....  we have
no such thing here in the wilds of New Scotland, but there IS a place
which sells commercial shells nearby.  When i first became interested in
collecting, in 1988 or so (rather recently by the standard of this list,
i must admit!!), a friend told me of this marvellous place where they
had all sorts of shells in a huge warehouse.  So, i and two eager young
collector-friends headed out there and had a look around.  We were
suitably impressed by the large bins full of hundreds of shells and
other marine items such as giant sea urchins and other echinoderms, and
ended up purchasing some surprisingly productive "small Indian mix"
amongst other  things such as Natica lineata batches which hid an
attractive euzona or two per bag.  One friend, who is now my trustworthy
assistant, purchased a nice Cypraea aurantium (nothing shockingly
special by today's standards) for the surprising sum of $500, which
shell-shocked me considerably, and we had a great time of it all in all:
it was well worth the excursion for certain :--).

 From the Great Wet North,
ross mayhew.

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