www.cowries.info

[Obroni22]

Hi, I started small, but would like to specialize somehow, maybe on some nice specie, that occurs around the world and collect that certain specie from different localities. I dont have access to the sea, but time to time I travel, most of my shells Ill buy or trade at fairs or ebay. Please advice guys some outstanding specie(s) that are beautiful, but wont ruin my wallet. I will appreciate any kind of help, maybe give me a tip to about 5-10 species that might fit my criteria and I could have a choose from Your suggestions. Thank You very much! Have a great day everyone, Im a new member

[Don A]

It sounds like what you are looking for would be something that is wide spread and varies quite a bit plus is quite affordable and therefore not rare. These cypraea come to mind: tigris, caurica, moneta, lynx, erosa and arabica. Those are all cheap, wide spread and variable.
I think a great way to keep a collection interesting and affordable is to go for geographic variations of more common shells.

Don