Do you take specimen's grade serious?

[dave r]

Hi. The grading system generally works fine, I believe the one most used is that published in the 'Hawaiian Shell News' many years ago, i.e. Gem, Fine, Good, Poor. The problem arises with certain species which never occur in gem condition, dealers are loth to put 'Fine' or 'Good' because a lot of collectors like as near perfect a shell as they can get and will not buy them. I have seen labels such as 'Gem for species' but who can say what is the best that a certain species can attain? The amount of plusses and minuses some dealers put as a suffix to the 'fine' etc also adds to the confusion, I have seen shells labelled as 'Fine +++' which I have examined and a hand lens was needed to spot a minute flaw. I would class this as gem, as a flaw that can not be seen with the naked eye does not detract from the quality and value of a shell. I have also seen shells offered as 'fine' that were definately 'good'. It is a very confused state of affairs but luckily, as you say, most dealers post a photo of the shell for sale so you know what you are getting. There are still some who post a photo of the apertural view and when you get the shell the dorsum is ruined but invisible in the photo. The best thing to do (if you can spare the time) is to post a photo of the dorsum and base of a shell so prospective buyers can see exactly what they are paying for.
I hope this is of some help.
Dave