VOL.35 NO.2 OCTOBER 2OO5 - British Shell Collectors' Club

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Page 4 PALLIDULA THE BSCC TROPHIES by Tom Walker The Club awards several trophies at its annual Shell Shows, and usually the names of the winners are published in the next issue of Pallidula. However, no comprehensive list of winners seems to have been kept, and some years the names have been omitted from Pallidula. I thought it time that this was rectified, and the list below gives all the winners since each trophy was first awarded. Members may also like to know why we have these awards, and why they are so named. The newest cup – the John Fisher Trophy – is not included here, having been first awarded in 2004, won by Christopher Wilkins; full details about this cup were published in the October 2004 edition of Pallidula. Also not listed here is the new Scotia Shield which is to be awarded for the first time this year; for further details see page 6. The first Shell Show was held in May 1976, but competitive entries were not introduced until the following year. It seems that in the early years of the Club there was an additional award, the Du Pont Trophy, for the Outstanding Exhibit, but there is mention of only one winner; Ken Wye won it in 1977 for “Exhibit 38 in Class 10: Visual Beauty – Shape”. Conchologists of America Plaque The COA is the premier shell organisation in America, with well over 1000 members worldwide, the majority living in the US. The BSCC is a club member, and, to my knowledge, there are nine UK individual members. The COA strongly supports the educational and research aspects of conchology, and each year makes many grants to further this aim; in 2004 they awarded $14,583 to 11 workers, most of whom are students, but some professionals also receive grants. They are very active in supporting local shell clubs throughout the world, and show their support by donating a Plaque to member clubs for “a single scientific (vs. artistic) exhibit which best advances the interest in shells and shell collecting” (wording taken directly from their guidelines.) It may only be given to a first prize winner in any class, and cannot be awarded to a dealer unless the exhibit consists entirely of self-collected shells, nor to any professional malacologist. The BSCC is extremely grateful to the COA for donating this Plaque every year since 1979. To date it has been won by 16 different Club members, of whom six have won it more than once. The clear ‘winner’ is Stanley Francis who has received this award no fewer than five times. The Peter Oliver Cup Peter Oliver was born in 1918 and died in 1984, following which the BSCC Committee decided to award a Cup in his memory. His interest in shells began in 1960 when he was working as a public relations officer for the Shell Oil Company in Singapore and Malaya, being a founder member of the local malacological society. He returned to England in 1966. He accumulated an extensive collection of marine gastropods, concentrating mainly on Cypraeidae, Volutidae and Conidae. He was a Fellow of the Linnaean and Zoological Societies of London, and an active member of the Conchological Society. He joined the British Shell Collectors’ Club early in 1973, only a few months after it was formed, and was its second President, from 1977 to 1979. He was the author of The Hamlyn Guide to Shells of the World; first published in 1975 it remained in print for many years and was translated into numerous different languages. The Peter Oliver Cup was first awarded in 1985 for “The Best Educational Exhibit” at the annual Shell Show and until 2004 was the only award which has the winner’s name engraved on it. The Cup has been won by 13 different members, only two of whom have won it more than once; Kevin Brown is obviously our leading educationalist, having his name recorded six times on the Cup plinth. The Walter Karo Trophy Walter Karo was a very regular exhibitor at BSCC Shell Shows, and was noted for the outstanding quality of the shells he showed – always the best that was possible to obtain; I recall a stunning exhibit of Pleurotomariidae soon after I joined the Club. It is probable that his interest in shells was stimulated by his close business association with Mr Mayer, the founder of the Eaton’s Seashells shop.
PALLIDULA Page 5 Following Walter’s death in 1990 his family offered his collection to the Natural History Museum in London, and this now forms the majority of the molluscan exhibition in the Museum – well worth a visit for those who haven’t seen it. In 1991 the Club Committee decided that “an award in memory of the late Walter Karo will be given for a specimen of outstanding beauty”; the plaque has a mounted Cymbiola aulica on it. Perhaps one attraction of this award is that it is not possible to plan an exhibit with this Trophy in mind – it really only depends on the opinion of the judges on the day. However, that does not make its winning any the less attractive, there having been 9 different winners over the 14 years since this Trophy was first awarded. CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA PLAQUE PETER OLIVER CUP WALTER KARO TROPHY 1979 Peter Sheasby Spiral of Murex 1980 Fed Pinn Gastropods of Pondicherry, South India 1981 Geoff Cox Bivalves - Veneridae 1982 Walter Karo Volutes 1983 Alex Arthur Trochidae in the Mediterranean Sea 1984 Jenny Hogenard Shells from Obhor Creek, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 1985 John Llewellyn-Jones Kevin Brown Mother-of-pearl “Why is the shell that funny shape?” 1986 Stanley Francis (joint) Colin Narbeth Chlamys opercularis Kevin Brown (joint) Penny plain two pence coloured Chinese money cowries 1987 Tom Walker Kevin Brown Jamaican shells “An open or shut case” 1988 Stanley Francis Koen Fraussen European Pectinidae Freshwater mussels 1989 Alan Seccombe Geoff Cox Worldwide Cassidae British marine shells 1990 Andy Wakefield Kevin Brown Worldwide Marginellidae “Teredo: the most expensive shell in the world” 1991 Noel Gregory Kevin Brown Tom Pain Chicoreus “Gmelin 1791” Skirocus macrum (ammonite) 1992 Stanley Francis Mike Dixon Geoff Cox Victims of the Florida Crab Traps Guide to Naticidae Harpa costata 1993 Stanley Francis Kevin Brown Geoff Cox Mediterranean Muricidae Worldwide Neritidae Ericusa sowerbyi 1994 Dick Plester Stanley Francis Geoff Cox Mitrinae The Mollusca – forerunners of our Modern Civilisation Buccinum undatum 1995 Peter Sheasby Peter Sheasby Fred Pinn “Murex in the Pink – or is it in the Orange?” Molluscs and egg cases Chicoreus spectrum 1996 Dick Plester Fred Pinn Geoff Cox Costellariidae The Sacred Chank of India Cassis tuberosa 1997 Stanley Francis Kevin Brown Tom Walker Colourful British Marine Shells Astrea heliotropum Cassis madagascariensis 1998 Tom Walker Geoff Cox John Whicher Shells Alive The Algorithmic Beauty of Shells Vasum horridum 1999 Kevin Brown Terry Wimbleton Dominic Rawlinson-Plant Millennium musing on Molluscs Helix aspersa Cypraea tessellata 2000 Dick Plester Terry Wimbleton Dominic Rawlinson-Plant Genus Haliotis British marine molluscs Harpa goodwini 2001 John Llewellyn-Jones Deborah Hicklin Selina Wilkins Mother of pearl buttons Shells from Brittany Smaragdia viridis 2002 Karen Hicklin Karen Hicklin Tom Walker Helcion pellucida Helcion pellucida Forcartia buehleri 2003 Tom Walker Selina Wilkins Carl & Craig Ruscoe African shells with stamps Mya arenaria Aporrhais pesgallinae 2004 Mike Dixon Sharon Crichton Mike Dixon Australian Top Shells Studland Bay Shells Clanculus undatus occidus
Page 1 and 2: VOL.35 NO.2 OCTOBER 2OO5
Page 3: PALLIDULA Page 3 Shells in Unusual
Page 7 and 8: PALLIDULA Page 7 Habitat and biolog
Page 9 and 10: PALLIDULA Page 9 Cypraea tigris, Sa
Page 11 and 12: PALLIDULA Page 11 SHELLING ON SHELL
Page 13 and 14: PALLIDULA Page 13 A NEW CONUS SPECI
Page 15 and 16: PALLIDULA Page 15 Spurn Head by Dav

VOL.35 NO.2 OCTOBER 2OO5 - British Shell Collectors' Club

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