Anthony's junonia

I thought I’d give you another shot of Anthony’s JUNONIA (yesterday’s post) before I move on to….. the rest of the story.

Seashells and a sit 'n sifter

There were thousands of shells to sift through.

Lion's paw piece and flat

I figured if I couldn’t find my own JUNONIA then maybe I’d find a LION’S PAW to keep up with Anthony. All I found was this piece…. but it’s a cool piece.

Shelling guide Brian

Brian Holaway is a shelling guide who even shells when he doesn’t have a tour. He got there 15 minutes after Anthony found his JUNONIA.

Brian's collection

He got some great stuff! LACE MUREX, JUVENILE HORSE CONCH (I have so many pet names for that shell, I never know what to call it… it could get confusing… ie- candy, candy corn, horsie, tink’s mac ‘n cheese, orangie) LETTERED OLIVE, ALPHABET CONE and SHARK’S EYE.

We were having so much fun both talking about where we’ve found what shell throughout the world. I forgot about my expired parking receipt in my car…. and he did too! We both saw the parking “cop” pull in the lot and we both high tailed it and ran as fast as we could to our cars. Whew… saved from a $50 parking ticket.

Sea shells on Brian's dashboard

I looked over at Brian’s car and had to take a picture of the inside of his truck. Two huge WHELKS, a JUNONIA, a big honkin’ KING’S CROWN and a dancing hula girl filled his dashboard.

Panama shells

Then he brings out some shells he found in Panama! That are MOTHER OF PEARL OYSTER, a RADISH MUREX, a LIMPET, and I have no idea what the other one is. I couldn’t believe what I heard…. he wanted me to have them. He gave them to me! He said he found tons of all of them so he wouldn’t miss them. Geez. Thank you, Brian!

Beach sheller Joan

So when I got back to the beach, I ran into blog shelling sistah Joan! She was tickled to be finding lots of goodies.

Joan's shell treasures

She found a beautiful MOON SNAIL sitting right there in front. So nice to meet you Joan!

Look how pretty this scallop is!

Nutmeg in shells

Whew! The seashell adventures of the past few shelling days has been the best early Christmas present ever. I’m now catching my breath and sorting through what we found (they still aren’t cleaned yet- ugh). These were my faves pictured below from night shelling Monday night and yesterday. That’s Clark’s 8 inch LIGHTNING WHELK and candy, I told you about….. but let me name them all any way. Clockwise top left to right- BITTERSWEET, LACE MUREX, LIGHTNING WHELK, piece of a LION’S PAW, FLAT ZIGZAG SCALLOP, SCALLOP, TOP SHELL, NUTMEG, 3 ALPHABET CONES, HORSE CONCH (candy!).

Our seashell collection