I appreciate a perfect shell as much as many other collectors. However, my collection is weighted heavily with "junk" shells picked from beaches and/or in recent years purchased from Internet auctions. And yes it drags down the desireability of my collection as a whole which has been said to me. Perfection or as nearly as one can get to it has a premium value just as in any other collecting discipline thus to your query, yes I for one am interested in imperfect shells at discount. Gerontic shells have such a fascinating history recorded in their imperfect hulls. Example: I tried for years to get an "old" Pacific trumpet triton without success and finally found one from an estate at auction. This being a mollusk that lived to very old age - its exterior eroded to the point of almost total lack of color yet the aperature still vibrant in color and finish and the shell heavy. It provides a different way of looking at the species. The sculpture and form of the shell is as striking as the color in a "perfect" specimen. John Timmerman Wilmington, North Carolina USA -------------- Original message from Guido Poppe <[log in to unmask]>: -------------- > This is a very interesting topic. > > A collection of perfect shells gives long lasting pleasure to look > at. You never get bored. It is my personal experience that defect > shells attract the look to the defect too often, and when mixed with > perfect shells they take down the whole collection and one gets a > messy impression and in the very long run one may get tired of this > collection. > > On the other hand, it is impossible to make a quite complete > collection of a given family without accepting imperfect shells: many > species have never been collected in perfect condition. A collection > of Conidae with perfect lips will only be a fraction of the complete > family. 70 % are virtually impossible to get with perfect lips, > without sponge holes or growth lines. > > My personal satisfaction giving solution is: I put only perfect > shells on display, so I never get tired. The study material is stored > away in a systematic way. Unless it concerns a fantastic species > which I want to see, even imperfect. > > As for the markets: paying customers expect the best possible > quality. But we think there is a market for defect shells. Possibly > we will open a line at very cheap prices to get rid of the tons of > stocked away material which is not perfect, but top interesting for > the scientific collection. I would appreciate the opinion of the > shellers here: are you interested to buy cheap defected shells ? And > do you prefer to buy "sets" (ex: 25 Olango shells for 10 $) or > individual pieces at 1 $ or so ? > > Best regards, > > Guido