Shell collectors ?

[Sam Miller III]

For as many years that I have been diving, I still collect just one she'll from each place I dive. ...it's kinda a moment of recollection for me

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Another honest diver

I note you have been diving for 15 years, there fore you must have 15 or more shells displayed.
How and where do you display them ?


Did you purchases the shell from a native?
~~~~~~~Or ~~~~~~
Do you collect it live ?
If so what method do you use to remove the little critter that calls the shell home?
Do you possibly boil the shell it as TMHeimer does (Did?)

SDM

 

[Flutter]

As a small child, my parents owned a huge conch shell display (surrounded by various smaller shells & a couple plastic palm trees, cemented together & lit up with an electric "nite" lightbulb) under our old rabbit-earred TV set. I loved looking at that display & wondered about the oceans & warm places where all those shell creatures had once lived. (We have plentiful lakes, but I knew those critters did not live there).

Years later, my husband & I began taking trips to the coast & I collected an assortment of washed up shells to bring home (land locked US). After that, we began snorkeling on the coast & more recently, diving. This is when I finally saw the critters that lived in those shells first hand - decorator crabs, hermits, queen conchs, mussels, live sea horses . . In 2015, we saw this guy (photo), a live sand dollar (?) which we'd only seen before in collections for sale - white & dead. Wow.

I have our various washed-up shells displayed in our bathrooms & around the house in small pint/quart sized, clear, covered jars. They are a tie-in with my parents (now gone, as is the old nite-lite conch display) who inadvertently provided me with a curiousiness for the sea.

And the shells we've collected remind me during our loooong, cold winters - It's time to plan another warm water dive trip!

 

[TMHeimer]

Yes, that's the sort of Queen Conch lamp display (minus the palm tree) I was talking about. As well, it and my parents are also long gone.

 

[Flutter]

@TMHeimer , did you ever try snapping off any of the shells from the lamp display, for your own private collection? I did - unsuccessfully.

 

[urbaneve71]

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Another honest diver

I note you have been diving for 15 years, there fore you must have 15 or more shells displayed.
How and where do you display them ?


Did you purchases the shell from a native?
~~~~~~~Or ~~~~~~
Do you collect it live ?
If so what method do you use to remove the little critter that calls the shell home?
Do you possibly boil the shell it as TMHeimer does (Did?)

SDM

I have some of them displayed. ...but I have around 150 shells. I never collect anything that could be occupied, if it is I will move on to another one and I've never tried boiling them. Maybe that is something I should consider.

I've never bought shells from anyone though. ... in like the idea of collecting my own.

 

[Akimbo]

I give my Abalone shells to a friend that uses them for sculpture and inlay art. It is really beautiful stuff in the right person's hands.

Sort of a side-note. I will never forget the first time I visited a commercial diving company's yard in Belle Chasse Louisiana. They paved the place with ground oyster shells. This California boy didn't believe it until I saw how fast those guys piled shells up at lunch. It sort of makes me wonder why that area doesn't have more sand beaches.

 

[TMHeimer]

@TMHeimer , did you ever try snapping off any of the shells from the lamp display, for your own private collection? I did - unsuccessfully.

No, but that was before I had a collection (I was very young).
A side note about (Queen?) Conchs--I read once that at least in the past they built entire jetties out of crushed conch shells in the Dominican Republic. I know that (now) it is illegal for a tourist to collect there, but not a local. Assume they don't use them for jetties anymore.

 

[Sam Miller III]

I have some of them displayed. ...but I have around 150 shells. I never collect anything that could be occupied, if it is I will move on to another one and I've never tried boiling them. Maybe that is something I should consider.

I've never bought shells from anyone though. ... in like the idea of collecting my own
.

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150 shells - Fantastic ! an honest member of the SCUBA board who admits to collecting shells

I also have or at least can't recall ever purchasing a shell.

I agree that such a thing of beauty - a marvel of nature should be displayed.

We have some of ours under glass is cabinets others setting out singular or is a grouping.

They are probably the number one dust collector in our home. Requires a lot of care and dusting

Do you do anything to enhance the beauty of the shells -- ie any sort of coating?

Inquiring minds want to know

SAM

PS I note you list Midwest as your home--I Have often wondered what states comprise the "Midwest?" sdm

 

[Patoux01]

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Fantastic ! an honest member of the SCUBA board who admits to collecting shells

Why do you feel the need to suggest people that don't are dishonest?

 

[maj2]

The only shell that I ever took from a dive was an Atlantic partridge tun that we found in Bermuda. My dive guide spotted it and handed it to me. I checked it out and went to replace it, but he insisted that I keep it, so I did!
I also have a bunch of other shells, corals, sand dollars, urchins, sea fans, etc. that were collected from beaches and while snorkelling on various trips. All were dead at the time of collection. My conch and helmet shells were purchased from fishermen on the beach or at the dock.

In terms of enhancing the beauty, for my tun shell, I soaked it in diluted bleach for a few minutes to remove what periostracum remained, then just rubbed mineral oil on it once it was clean to give it a nice shine. Beach finds are usually more beat up, and I don't usually do anything to them. My sand dollars got soaked in hydrogen peroxide to whiten them and then coated with diluted white glue to strengthen them.