I'm Bjorn De Boer, student and living in Belgium. I'm now collecting the genus Oliva for some years already and try to built up a kind of basic collection that gives us a summary of this genus in all his aspects: color, form, variety, locality, size, rarity,... Essences in my collection are beauty and aesthetic on one hand, and science on the other. 

Beauty is a gift of nature and it pleases men through whole history. The gloss, the great patterns, colors and diversity of the genus, and the uniform size makes a collection in a drawer a feast for the eyes. 

But a collection needs to be more than just putting beauties together. Collecting the shells and hide them from other people, is theft of nature. Sharing information is a part of science. And because nature evolves and science moves, information is very important to learn more about this beautiful genus. 

The family misses some attention. The few existing reference books on Olividae - like 'Atlas of the Living Olive Shells of the World' from Petuch and Sargent, 1986 and 'Olive shells of the World' from Zeigler and Porreca, 1969 are partly out of date. Publications and articles are a rarity. 

I think time is ripe for a new reference work. And I dream of it. A kind of database with full data of as many as possible variations in color and shape of the known Oliva-species, accompanied with information about location, depth of found, circumstances, date, etc. Pictures of all faces of the shell can make identification possible now or in the future and comparison between the same species or an other. Information means knowledge, so there should be first information and interesting study-material. That's the essence of science. 

Alone it isn't possible. So, I'm searching for all kind of material about this genus:

• shells: every shell can be a source of information if accompanied with full data. Every serious offer for sale or exchange is welcome. 

• data: have you shells in your collection - for exchange or not - that are extra-ordinary, have a strange color, are very big or just very small, are from an uncommon locality, or are doubtful by identification,... well than is that shell something interesting. A description of it, a remark, a note, a picture, it's all important.

• literature: don't you use the book from Zeigler and Porreco anymore, have you read or written some publications about Olividae, or have you a remark on an article, I will be pleasured to know it.  

• taxonomy: recent or past evolutions, DNA-research, old authors,... 

If you want to help by sending some data or pictures, if you want to exchange experiences, if you want to exchange some of your Oliva-shells collected on your beaches with some European species,... don't hesitate to look further and contact me.