Hi,

I have about 10,000 shells, from microscopic to the huge Melo, Pleruoploca,
Charonia and Turbinella.
I house the tiny ones in those small round plastic boxes that come
in display boxes of rows of about 20. These are great for little ones.
(Has anyone out there heard of the plastic deteriorating and ruining the finish
of shells such as cowries? This is my only concern, although in the 10 years
that I've used them I've had no problem).
The rest of my shells are housed in large cases with wooden drawers that are
2' x 2' x 2" tall. These I had custom-made for me. I gave the carpenter a
basic drawing of the dimensions and the photo we've probably all seen from
the March 1969 National Geographic Magazine (p.414) that shows John E. du Pont
infront of shell cabinets. Mine look exactly like those and I find them to
be great for moving drawers around to make changes and make room for different
size shells.
I arrange all my shells by family and genus. I find that method gives me a good
idea of relationships and I know where to find each shell with a minimum of
searching.
I only display white or non-fadable brown shells in glass cases.

Peter Egerton

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Peter Egerton, Vancouver, Canada
Collector of worldwide Mollusca