Saturday, October 20, 2007

What a wonderful shell!

Hi!
It is my first post in this blog...
First of all: why this blog??
Because I need to show my love for Cowries, probably one of the best and well known families of shells.
During my life I have seen thousands Cowries in shell shows, in collections of my friends, in museums, in the books, on the web. But it is always a fantastic moment when I can see a new particular specimen, having something of different.
I remember well when I had the opportunity to see the first Cypraea specimen in the museum of my University, longtime ago... and the first conchological publication: La Conchiglia, that was for decades a strong support for many shell collector around the world.
Many years are gone, and many specimens are added to my collection. I have known many shell collectors; I did a lot of exchanges with them. What a revolution when internet become available: in the past it was necessary a period of weeks to define an exchange and now you can close an agreement with a friend that is poles apart in some hours! To buy shells in the past it was necessary to receive by snail mail the price list of a dealer, make e reply by post and wait weeks (or months) to receive the specimens. Now you can find a price list on the web (with high quality photos...), you can choose the exact specimen you wish and confirm your buy in few minutes.
Power of technology! But probably we are running too fast... Be quiet! It is an hobby!

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