Dear Christine, Welcome to the list. I agree with what has been said so far but have a couple of bits to add. I had heard of some concerns using organic oils to bring up shine and colour (I think in terms of rate of decomposition) and have switched to vaseline which I gently rub in with my fingers and then wipe off the excess. If you are thinking of a database then you are wanting to identify your species and for a scientific collection keep locality data. This can become a little difficult if you keep all the specimens in large glass jar as they get mixed up quickly, although this is a good way to show off the specimens. Also a computerised database is great but I still like to maintain a hand written card index with species name, auther, locality, habitat, collector, price(if bought) size etc. I find this very useful now that I have a larger collection if I want to work on a group of species as I can lay the cards and specimens out together on a table all at once. However it is a lot of work. Regards Geoff Macaulay (Australia too) >From: Christine Szpaczek <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: New Collector - Questions >Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 20:50:58 +1000 > >Hi Everyone, > >I am a very new collector, only been actively looking for shells for about >6 >months. I must say before I start that I have been passively participating >on this list for about a month now and have found it very resourceful and >interesting. > >I am at the point were I have quite a few piles of specimens that I have >collected while beach walking (nothing fantastic - but have to start >somewhere). I only collect dead shells from the beach or shallow waters >when >snorkelling. I mainly collect shells cause I love looking at their shapes >and colours and then trying to identify them (all part of the fun). I am >in >the process of creating a database to start organising my collection. > >Just wondering a few things. (Please remember I am new at this) > >Is it ok to display the shells in large glass jars? Any reasons why I >shouldn't? > >Have been reading some material on cleaning shells (eg bleach). Are there >any shells that I shouldn't clean in this? Or is there anything >better/safer >I should be using? > >What is the best product to bring up the shine in a shell? (have read a few >varying ideas) > >Thanks in advance >Christine >(Australia) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp