By Connie Leinbach
The Giant Eastern Murex shell Maria Lloyd found on the Portsmouth Island beach was a “find of a lifetime,” said N.C. Shell Club President Dan Minior during the group’s March meeting on Ocracoke. “It’s a spectacular find.”
Lloyd’s shell was the “Find of the Day,” a designation these shell nerds seek during their two-day visit to Ocracoke.
Lloyd said a number of shellers walked by it before she noticed it nestled toward the dunes.
“I thought someone had planted it, it was so perfect,” she said about her prize.
Lloyd was one of about 50 members who attended the two-day meeting and participated in auctions of shells.
Friday night they heard a talk by Dora Zimmerman about a rugged, five-day guided “shell safari” she and her husband took along Australian beaches, during which time they did not change their clothes nor take a shower for five days.
What is it about shells that engenders such passion?
“There’s beauty in every shell,” noted Ocracoke islander and Shell Club member Charlie DeCarlo. “Every shell has a story.”
DeCarlo brought his own cache of Ocracoke shell finds for the conchologists to gush over – helmets, whelks, true tulips, nutmeg, baby’s ears, sand dollars and more.
Others, like Susan O’Conner, who calls herself Susan “Sheller,” have been interested in shells since they were children.
“Collecting shells is like a treasure hunt,” she said. “It’s peaceful and you never know what you’re going to find. You meet some interesting people. And when you look at your shelves of shells, you find yourself remembering a good day.”
Same with Mark Johnson, second vice-president. He has a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of shells and can rattle off their Latin names with ease.
After collecting shells as a four-year-old, his parents then gave him a bag of shells, and he was hooked.
“I’ve been collecting ever since,” he said.
The Shell Club’s formative meeting took place in 1957 at the NC Museum of Natural History in Raleigh. This nonprofit nominated and lobbied successfully to make the Scotch Bonnet (Semicassis granulata) in 1965 the official North Carolina state shell emphasizing its beauty, ecological importance and cultural significance.
The Ocracoke Preservation Society Museum, 49 Water Plant Road, has a large exhibit of shells collected in North Carolina waters and several members took advantage of a special invitation to view it, prompting club president, Dan Minior, to give rave reviews about the shells displayed and the accuracy of their names.
For more information about the club and to become a member, go to www.ncshellclub.com.
Patty Huston-Holm contributed to this story.
