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