Ugh, you guys are STARTING urban legends... My father worked for Shell Chemical for most of his career and was transferred on occasion from place to place; I narrowly missed being born as a Californian. A company history, last read when I was 12 or so, stated unequivocally that Shell began by selling shells and other curios from far lands. Oil came much later, though I don't remember exactly how or when. The history is complicated by a merger of British and Dutch interests into Royal Dutch, which owns Shell Oil, Shell Chemical, Shell Pipeline, etc. Odd to think that one of the world's largest corporations began as a shell shop. The original curio company was founded in the 1600's, if memory serves, making it the oldest shell dealer still in existence, in a manner of speaking. Of course they don't sell shells anymore, but they do sell shell calendar-books. ;-) As a matter of possible interest, other companies that have lasted several centuries include book publishers (Cambridge and Elsevier), several beer companies (Lowenbrau, for instance), and at least one soy sauce maker (Kikkoman). Even older institutions exist, including medieval universities (e.g., Cairo, Paris, Bologna, Salamanca), the government of Iceland (ca. 1000), and the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches; but change is the rule. Andrew K. Rindsberg Geological Survey of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA