Shell Grading
- WSS_admin
- Apr 13
- 3 min read
by Richard Goldberg
The shell grading that you see on dealer's price lists grew out of a need to have a standardized method for grading shells that the international shell collecting community could adopt when selling or exchanging shells.
The History of Shell Grading: In 1973 Elmer Leehman and Stu Lillico of Hawaii proposed a method by which the condition of shells would be described using a standard method and using uniform terms. This was based on long discussions during the previous two years. They published their proposed standards in the March 1973 issue of Hawaiian Shell News. The proposed system was not at first universally adopted, but used by some dealers and serious collectors. It eventually came to be called the HMS-ISGS (Hawaiian Malacological Society International Shell Grading Standard).The ISGS system, as proposed by Leehman and Lillico, classified a shell in four catagories.
Gem Quality - a perfect live taken shell, fully adult, well cleaned, no alteration to the shell such as a filed lip, and operculum if the species has one, excellent coloring, and complete collecting data, among other things.
Fine Quality - a live taken shell, with only minor faults and not more than one minor growth flaw. "Color and glossy must be satisfactory."
Good Quality - "A reasonably good specimen" not necessarily live taken, exhibiting a few defects, including growth marks, and good color as long as not faded.
Fair Quality - a dead or beach collected shell, chipped lips in the case of Conus species, noticable flaws, and no data and operculums.
The descriptions, as published, were more in depth, but you can get the gist of their proposal. In May 1977, shell dealer Bob Morrison of Sarasota, Florida proposed modifications to the Leehman & Lillico proposed shell standards in Hawaiian Shell News. His contention was that a perfect shell means different things to different people. His revision shortened the description of a Gem shell to say, "a mature shell with no noticeable flaws. Fine - a shell with a minor flaw or flaws which do not detract significantly from the appearance; shell may be slightly subadult...and so on.
Morrison was the first to propose using a plus (+) sign after the grading to indicate a shell that is better than that grading, but not quite the next grade. He also stated that due to certain environmental influences, certain species almost always show some noticeable flaws. He proposed that such flaws should be noted as "typical". Both the original proposal by Leehman and Lillico and Morrison's proposal stated that a written description of the good and bad qualities of a shell should accompany the listing. By September 1977 Leehman and Lillico wrote in HSN that the HMS-ISGS was a success (I guess based on the number of dealers and collectors who adopted the standard).During the four year evolutionary period the standards were yet again revised and finally published as official in the September 1977 HSN issue. This included adding a plus (+) and minus (-) sign to the basic grading designation. (I do not think many people use the minus sign after a grade designation anymore). Also a commercial grade was added to indicate shells not acceptable for mail order retailing and should not be offered as collectors' specimens. Other symbols such as w/o (with operculum), F/D & B/D (full and basic data), JUV (juvenile for shells graded Good & Fine) were also adopted. Even more recently there is some variation on this system. The unofficial use of a (++) after the basic quality grading takes into account an even finer deliniation between gradings. I have even seen a (+++) used. But I think the line has to be drawn somewhere since the bottom line is that even with a standard to follow, grading shells is still a very subjective pursuit. Up until recently most mail order shell dealers used this standard. The use of high quality pictures that show the quality of a shell in lieu of a grading symbol has become the norm. We at Worldwide Specimen Shells still employ the HMS-ISGS system, if anything, for a quick reference to the quality of a shell being offered for sale. The pictures then support the grading. Seasoned mail order buyers know how particular dealers may use this standard to grade their shells or rely on images to tell the grading story. I do not think the authors of the HMS-ISGS intended it to be an end-all, but at least it provides some standardization or starting point to offer to customers.
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