Sirs,

If you buy shells as an investment, I have a bridge for you.  They are not like coins or stamps where there is a finite number available.  Just look around and you can find many many examples of once pricey cone shells that are $50.00 each today.  When I buy a shell it is for the scientific value that I see in the specimen and for the esthetic values inherent in the piece of calcium carbonate so well put together by some snail.  These are after all snails (or clams) and once had an actual animal in them.

Yours again,


John K. Tucker
-----Original message-----
From: worldwide [log in to unmask]
Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 22:53:18 -0500
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Holotypes & Paratypes

If a person squirrels away Holotype shells for their own
aggrandizement in the belief  that Holotypes are valued far above
market value, then why have main stream dealers not started
publishing Holotype price lists?  The reason is one of ethics.  I
believe most dealers understand the importance of working within a
(the) system.  And the system in which the scientific community uses,
the ICZN, states that Holotypes should be deposited in Museums or
public institutions where they are accessible to current and future
generations of researchers.  That is why Holotypes and the first few
Paratypes of newly published species are "almost" always deposited in
scientific institutions and not in private collections.  Of course,
anyone can do as they please -- buy, sell or trade in scientifically
important type material -- with impunity.  But what are the chances
that after a shell collection ripe with Holotypes is going to have a
cash value in orders of magnitude?  More than likely very little
chance.  I believe a serious collector would rather purchase a shell
of exceptional size and/or quality irrespective if it is a type
specimen.  Type shells are typically more representational of a
species rather than of superior quality.  Is squirreling away
Holotypes in a private collections anti-science?  I guess that is for
each of us to decide.

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