Couldn't agree more.  Thanks for saying what you did.  I only lurk on
CONCH-L but your message inspired me.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ross Mayhew <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, March 19, 1999 2:39 PM
Subject: Some Advice to young (and beginner) shell collectors.
 
 
>I'll probably lose some business for this posting, but here goes anyway.
> I urge anyone in a judgemental mood to read through to the very end,
>where i put things into perspective somewhat!
>
>        Shells are natural objects, and as such, they are very seldom
perfect:
>a mollusc does what it must to survive - predators, waves, temperature
>and other environmental changes, diseases, epiphytic organisms (those
>that live on hoard surfaces (barnacles, jingle shells, bryozoans,
>coralline algae...), boring critters, and so on.  Even amongst
>shiny/smooth/overpriced beasties such as the cowries, true "GEM"
>specimens are quite rare (athough you would not know this by looking at
>some dealers' lists!!!).  Furthermore, most shells are fragile, and in
>the often-lengthy process of capture, cleaning, passing through
>middlemen, shipping, storing, etc., it is a miracle that ANY specimen
>comes through 100% intact!!   I like to say if you want perfection, buy
>plastic bric-a-brac : given good quality-control procedures, they are
>qute perfect, and can be turned out by the thousands in their flawless
>blandness.  Now, i am **not** saying that an absolutely perfect specimen
>with superior colors and pattern cannot be a thing of great beauty, but
>why cannot more people see the beauty that can be found in spcimens
>which are not quite so immaculate??  Why do so many collectors take one
>look at a shell with, say a lip chip or two or a growth line, and just
>throw it away or send it back, without appreciating the colors, patterns
>and form of the rest of the shell: why do so many people only look for
>irregularities, and once they find any they look no further: for them,
>any natural beauty a specimen may posess is destroyed by the smallest of
>faults!! (Do not think that i am making this up- i had a friend who
>bought a beautiful gloriamaris once, but it had a small growth mark, and
>he told me he just couldn't look at it without dwelling upon that small
>mark, so that for him, the shell was ruined.)  Personally, i feel sorry
>for someone like this, because they are unable to appreciate 99.9% of
>the beauty all around them, since they are so concerned about any little
>defect that this is all they really care about in the end.  Perfection
>is equated with beauty itself, and any beauty which occuring in a
>less-than-flawless specimen is either ignored, dicounted, or not even
>fully seen.
>
>  Personaly, i sometimes find a few deviations from absolute regularity
>to be a desirable thing - they give a specimen character, by testifying
>to the struggles its previous owner faced and overcame in life: they are
>mute reminders that the shell is REAL - it came from a rugged, demanding
>natural world, and not from a preformed, perfectly smooth and regular
>mould created by man.  So, to retire from this rant for now, i give the
>following advice: Don't be a "GemManiac" - you may be missing more
>beauty than you might think!!!  Shells are natural objects, and the very
>few which grow up absolutely "GEM", are in one sense, freaks. (of
>course, some people collect freaks, so i should not be so harsh!!!)
>
>        Now, before everyone draws the conclusion that i am a "junk
merchant"
>just trying to get people to settle for sub-standard products (although
>i do not see a shell as a "product", so much as a little work of "Art by
>God" (to borrow a phrase from another dealer!!)), i must add that i try
>hard to get the highest quality i can, but i will NOT discard a shell
>which retains much of its beauty in spite of  imperfections, although i
>will most certainly price such a specimen, even if quite exeptional
>and/or unusual, **much** lower than an F++ - GEM specimen which may be
>far less attractive.  I am just rather disappointed that so many
>collectors place a far greater value on perfection than on actual
>beauty, and in the cases where the battle-scars of life actually
>enhance, character.
>--
>Ross Mayhew:    Schooner Specimen Shells:
Http://www.schnr-specimen-shells.com
>"We Specialize in the Unusual"
>Phone: (902) 876-2241     Snail Mail; P.O Box 20005, RPO Spryfield,
>Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3R 2K9.
>But try to find "something for Everyone"!!