When I was a teenager, I earned money cutting grass and then spent it in the shell shops of Florida. My interest was sparked by the article "Shells Take You Over World Horizons" by Rutherford Platt in the July 1949 issue of The National Geographic Magazine. Here are some of my "treasures" from long ago. (See warning below.)

Warning: Enjoy the photographs, but do not trust the common and scientific names and locations. I have done my best, but I am an amateur and an expert is needed in many cases to make the correct identification. My information comes from "The Shell, Five Hundred Million Years of Inspired Design," by Hugh and Marguerite Stix and R. Tucker Abbott, from "Eyewitness Handbooks, Shells" by S. Peter Dance, from my notes from fifty years ago (which are of suspect accuracy), and from various internet sites.

Please e-mail me if you find errors in my identifications.