1848-49 the price OF CUMINGS COLLECTION SH 
Broderip, Sowerby, Gray, Reeve, and other emi- 
nent conchologists. . . . 
‘ The value of a shell, as of a jewel, depends 
much upon its rarity, and is to that extent artifi- 
cial. The concha zcmca, which to-day commands 
the sum of twenty pounds, shall, next week, 
when a score of specimens have come into the 
market, fall in price to as many shillings. Still, 
the commonest exotic shell, if it be perfect and 
well coloured, and taken from a living mollusk, as 
is the case with the Cumingian Collection, from 
which “dead” shells have been strictly excluded, 
finds its market. 
‘ I am given to understand, by competent 
authorities, that the sum of 6,000/. asked by Mr. 
Cuming in 1846 does not exceed two-thirds of 
the most moderate estimate of the present market 
value of his subsequently augmented collection. 
‘That ten times that sum would not bring 
together such a series as Mr. Cuming has offered 
to the British Museum I do firmly believe, from 
a knowledge of the peculiar tact in discovering 
and collecting, the hardy endurance of the 
attendant fatigue under deadly climes and 
influences, and the undaunted courage in en- 
countering the adverse elements and braving the 
opposition of the savage inhabitants of seldom- 
visited isles, which have conduced and concurred 
to crown the labours of Mr. Cuming with a 
success ol which his unrivalled collection is a 
