www.cowries.info

[RBS5]

It has occurred to me that there may be different motivations behind why exactly we pursue these living gemstones. I know for some the ability, thrill, and challenge of collecting your own specimens drives a collection. to immerse yourself quite literally in an environment and observe and search for the living animals must be exhilarating. For others its the classic "collect them all" mentality and joy of seeing a scientific catalog grow. Maybe its a hobby passed down between the generations?
Personally, I'm entranced by the colours, shapes and patterns found in Cypraeidae and am planning an ambitions photography sessions with a close friend to really explore and capture this natural beauty. As time passes and my collection grows, the shells themselves seem less important compared to the people I get to meet and communicate with and the fantastic places I get to experience vicariously through them and the specimens I purchase. I think it would be very interesting to hear some other stories about the how and why of cypraea collecting.

[rlutan]

Hello "RBS5",
can we get your name so that I can address you properly?.
One thing I really like about shell collecting is exactly the vicarious travel experience you mentioned. I am a world traveler and I have been very lucky to live in many parts of the world. But you know, I get a thrill in finding out about far out of the way places I never even heard until I started shell collecting. For example, I never heard of Sala y Gomez island until I acquired my Monetaria caputdraconis poppei. What an isolated part of the world!!!!. Similarly, I learned about many islands around Africa, Australia and in the Philippines. Amazing what you can google nowadays!!.So much geography and culture can be learned through our hobby.
Robert Lutan.
_________________
Caribbean seashells were what I collected in the 1980s when I was stationed in Puerto Rico with US. Navy. I had a few rare cowries then. Over the past 1 year I have started collecting cowries seriously again.

[RBS5]

My full name is Roswell Boice Stilwill V, which makes me sound much more important than I really am. I've gone by Rex my entire life. I will update my profile so others are aware.

And thanks for your response Robert. I've also really expanded my world geography from collecting. I just don't have the means or the time to travel, but through the combination of data cards and the internet I feel like I've become more familiar with some far off places than most people I know.

[cowryman3sai]

Living along the ocean in the early 60's as a child we had a few houses away a huge enclosed area half a block by a half a block in size we called the sand castle.At least 3 foot deep of sand and a variety of tiny shells everywhere.Instead of getting on the swings or other stuff I spents years almost everyday walking all over picking up and stairing at the different shapes.By digging every now and then one could find a giant moon snail.Cowries?I picked up a book by Alex Huberti and read it word for word front to back over and over.I suppose the science and how meticulous an indivisual would go so indepth on one type told me at that time this absolutely must be my calling.Then we moved 500 miles south to San Diego,California and I found a chestnut cowry and it afermed my conviction that I had been right all those child years in choosing this specific type of shell.Reading any book and looking at the pictures furthered it but especially rarities sucked me in bigtime.I think books are the most powerful but then thats me and for retirement joy Thanks!
_________________
Robert F.Grant lll in Salina,Kansas 67401 U.S.A. Check webshots.com and cypraea collectors are now on Facebook.com.It's extremely cool!!A must check.Been collecting for 45 years.

[Phoenyx Fyre]

Hello once again!

I have been keenly interested in shells and all marine life since a very young age! I can remember poking around the shoreline when we visited the beach, and my family would always say I was "sliming..." (I hope that translates!)

I was around 15 when I first started seriously collecting shells, and from the very start, Cowries were my favorite beyond all others! It was not even a question in my mind! I can remember being a teenager in the early and mid 1980's visiting in California. There was a shell shop I always had to go to in San Pedro where I would look at the aurantiums and the guttatas with envy, thinking that these shells are so rare and so expensive that I would NEVER have one! This goes without mentioning the occasional fultoni on poor condition that was priced at $5,000.00 or $7,000.00...

What truly attracts me to the cowries is not their retail value or their relative rarity, although that does play a part. It is their shape, their shine, their colors, their patterns, and even their portability! I recognized at a very young age that it's easier to find GEM shells in the cypraea than Murex or Cones! No spines and thin lips to become easily chipped or broken! It was always a joy to secrete my first ever tessellata into my pocket on long trips, or when I had to sit in Church!

Obviously, the older I became, the more educated I became. For a while, my best Cowrie reference was Jerome Eisenberg's book with all the great pictures, although not so much accompanying information! Then it was Burgess' Cowries of the World... This was perhaps the greatest gift to me in my secluded world of shell collecting! I say secluded, because there certainly were not many other people around who shared this interest as intensely as I did!

Several years ago, when I was all grown up and had a real job with a decent paycheck, I discovered shells online! Need I say any more...? Now to say that I am addicted would be a great understatement! I literally check ebay and many other online sources several times each day to see what's newly listed, what's about to end, what quality is being offered in what species, and also for how much, and from who, etc, etc, etc.... I have watched the pricing trends for various species rise and fall.. I remember when it was "reasonable" to bid $200.00 on a nice purple based aurantium, or to spend $150.00 and a guttata! And this is just for eBay...

When I first discovered Felix's site, to say I was slightly amazed and happy would be another gross understatement! Suffice to say, I am very thankful that this site and the other (quality) sites like it exist for the betterment of our education and the edification of our own collections!

I am landlocked in Pennsylvania, far away from any nice shells, let alone cowries! I must give credit to a local Shell Club which I am still amazed that it exists here in Pennsylvania, and has for going on 30 years now! It is due to the people in this club, and most notable a man named Jeff Brandyberry, that has cultivated the interest I had in shells, and enabled that specialized interest to grow into what it is today! Also, I assure everyone who reads this, that shell collecting, and specializing in Cypraea will certrainly be a life long interest/hobby/habit/addiction/pursuit for many years to come! It is one I share with all of you, with whomever expresses an interest, however slight, or however crazy! And it is all due to a simple animal called cowr(y)ie...

Thank you to Felix, and Thank you to All!

Most Sincerely, Russel Baughman Phoenyx Fyre Arts

[felix]

Many thanks for the kind remark. I am aware I did not add a lot of new things to my website, but this will change shortly.

Best regards to all

Felix

[benicypraea]

Hello all:

I like all the cowries pictured, Felix, they´re really superb, but the perlae with "egg-bird" pattern is really faboulous!
Thanks for sharing with all this nice set.
Regards,
Beni
_________________
I started to collect seashells since my childhood but I decided to focus on cowries in 1990. I like all kind of cowries, freaks, normal, nigers, dwarfs...
Also I collect conidae and Muricidae.

[rlutan]

Thank you for whetting my appetite Felix!!!
I should name this as "the unobtainables" or the "marriage breakers" . Unbelievable shells all!!!.
Robert.
_________________
Caribbean seashells were what I collected in the 1980s when I was stationed in Puerto Rico with US. Navy. I had a few rare cowries then. Over the past 1 year I have started collecting cowries seriously again.

[ozcyp]

I remember as a young boy, my uncle owned a trawler and used to keep the enormous baler shells which came up in the nets. These shells were as long as your arm and heavy. I also remember my grandmother's tiger cowrie she kept on her duchess.

After school, I began travelling the country as a full time musician and got to travel to different parts of the world. I always stopped to look at the wide variety of shells on display in many local villages, particularly in Suva,Vanuatu, Noumea and the Yasawa Islands.

Later, my passion for the sea took me out to the Great Barrier Reef, where I spent some time line fishing and exploring the thousands of reefs in the area.

I only began seriously collecting cypraea 8yrs ago. So compared to many of you who've been collecting for 30yrs, I'm very new to this. I have studdied the family and obtained a lot of reference material in this time through books and the internet. I'm fortunate to have some close friends in the local shell club here in Mackay who have all been collecting shells for over 30 to 50yrs. The information and material I've had to study has been a huge benefit in that period. I've also met and befriended many divers over time and these people are a major source of information and quality specimens I've aquired also. I'm lucky to know some local dealers who buy stock direct from trawlers and get to see some real quality shells, particularly hesitata, capricornia, petilirostris, oriettae and armenica forms. I also collect cypraea from many different locations, generally on extreme lowtides from around the region.

To say I'm hooked is an understatement. Though I'm not one of these collectors who drops big bucks on ultra rare shells, I do collect a wide variety and enjoy colour variations on almost all the families of cypraea, umbilia and zoila. I also collect giants and dwarfs as a sideline. My favourites include guttata, friendii, venusta and believe it or not, mauritiana. But their all gems of the sea in my eyes.

A few of my humpbacks

[Sleepycat]

I often find it difficult to say "why" I do anything in particular. A lot of things I just do, and if anyone else can explain why (convincingly) then good luck to them!

Shell collecting is a hobby I inherited from my grandmother (still alive and still picking up snails for me at the age of 87!). I was picking up cowries in northern NSW when I was younger than I can remember. My earliest memory concerning cowries is at about age five, counting up all the different kinds of shells in my shell collection to see which kind I had the most of. At that stage I had about 30 cowries. I used to look at them under a Vegemite glass that had some magnifying properties, so that turn the glass one way and the cowry looks bigger than it is, turn the glass the other way and it looks smaller. I especially enjoyed looking at caputserpentis in this way.

Finding things on the beach myself is a big part of the appeal. At times in the past my interest generally has waned because of this - living in southern Tasmania and being a non-swimmer there were times when I could only really expect to find angustata, comptoni and bad declivis. That was before I knew about shallow-water hesitata, and the real icing on the cake was our very own subcarnea. The *possibility* I might find subcarnea any time I go out looking makes it a lot more exciting, and as it is a poorly known species I feel like I am actually discovering things about it as I go rather than just collecting specimens without contributing to human knowledge in the process.

It's difficult to explain why the attraction to cowries when there are other marine groups that are more diverse here, need the study more, and are probably beautiful and fascinating in their own way, but that's just the way it is.

When I go to areas I have not been to before, I am often motivated to try to find cowries that I have not personally collected before, even if they are very common species that I have many specimens of from other sources. However there are also personal favourites (like asellus) that I love to pick up wherever I can find them.

Kevin.

[Notocypraea]

First got interested in shells & cowries when I found some Notocypraea beach combing, rock pool rambling & snorkelling in the Apollo Bay area of Victoria in the early 80's when I was a kid! Cowries & Volutes were my favourite.

My father didn't really approve of my hobby and I put it on "HOLD" while I was in Uni, working for the first 10 years (worked way too hard & long hours). A work trip to Fiji in 2003 got me back into it.

Got my scuba certification in early 2004 and haven't looked back since.

Observing living shells insitu is a great buzz for me. I am interested in the animal and take insitu pictures of the living animals and preserve certain species for animal & radula study.

Cowries & Volutes are still my fave but I appreciate many species.
My main interest is Notocypraea. The variation I have seen in this group is simply amazing!

Some great experiences like seeing Amoria exoptanda, Ericusa fulgetrum & the cowries... Cypraea hesitata, declivis, reevei, thersites, venusta etc insitu.

I think I really appreciate & respect the shells more having seen them insitu where they live.

I still enjoy the occasional beachcombing session or intertidal expedition but mostly enjoy scuba diving to observe shells.

Met some great people and visited some great places with this great hobby!


Regards,
Simon

[freaky freak collector]

i'm no longer an active collector, but felix' wonderful site keeps me informed and delighted especially with the beautiful pictures.

[Emilio]

Despite all of the nice things about collecting in general one thing that stands out as far as to why we collect is the collecting gene and alleles.
If you posses the gene, you collect; stamps, shells, phone cards etc. etc. Yet I think WHAT you collect is affected by the allele and also by
personality, intellect and your Sign [horoscope], HA!

BTW nice magnifica Felix!
_________________
1997 Masters Award - Cypraeovula of South Africa - Astronaut Trail Shell Show

[Sleepycat]