Quoting John Varner <[log in to unmask]>:

> In this age of the internet, does anyone know of projects to
> facilitate connections between commercial harvesters and specimen
> buyers?

* from an abstract market analysis (I don't buy or sell specimens, so
I don't have any personal experience), this would seem to be the role
of dealers, googling about, and otherwise inquiring, to find sources
that would allow them to under-price other dealers.

fred.
===================================================

> this link
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/world/asia/hardy-divers-in-korea-strait-sea-women-are-dwindling.html?rref=todayspaper&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Today%E2%80%99s%20Paper&pgtype=article
>
>  goes to a New York Times article on "Sea Women", free-diving women
> in South Korea who make a living diving for sea food.  Pictures show
> a woman with a pile of Turbo cornutus.  This snail is a major
> commercial shell fish, with tons being harvested annually in Korea
> and Japan.
> If you have frequented any shell auction or dealer sites lately, you
> may have noticed decent specimens of this specie fetching $40 or more.
>
> Other examples of a disconnect between prices and availability
> include Strombus gigas (a mature specimen shell can go for $50 or
> more, while the meat of a single conch can be purchased for $2.50 in
> the Bahamas), Busycon canaliculatus (also harvested by the ton in
> the U.S., but recently adult specimens can go for $20-50), various
> large Pecten species (again, harvested by the ton, but specimen
> shells nearly unavailable), various land snails (which literally
> litter the ground locally, but can command prices of $5-40 on the
> specimen shell market).  This is hardly an exhaustive list.
>
> In this age of the internet, does anyone know of projects to
> facilitate connections between commercial harvesters and specimen
> buyers?
>
> - John



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          Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm
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          South Nation Basin Art & Science Book
          http://pinicola.ca/books/SNR_book.htm
     RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
   on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
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