Forums SEASHELL-COLLECTOR

Hi! I've just gotten back into collecting seashells and was wondering if somebody could identify this for me? Someone got me it as a gift and couldn't tell me what it was, any help would be appreciated!

Also if anybody could tell me what the shells in the other photo are, my friend told me they were scallops but would like to be certain!

Thank you in advance?

Hi Amelia99,
upper picture left and right: as far as I see these shells are heavily abraded (obviously artificially), so only the hypostracum (nacre, "mother of pearl") is left. So it will be difficult to tell the species.
Lower picture: yes, should be family Pectinidae.
Kind regards: wolf

The first two are fresh water mussels. They have a naturally pearly interior, and are often turned into decorative items by buffing away the outer layers of shell until the inner pearly layer is reached. These are commonly sold in tourist shops.