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 following 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 award 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 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. There are only two references to this trophy in all the issues of the Club Newsletter or Pallidula: Ken Wye won it in 1977 for “Exhibit 38 in Class 10: Visual Beauty - Shape” and it was again to be awarded in 1985 (in addition to the COA Plaque). Any further information about the award and its winners would be welcomed.

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 malacologists.

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 been 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 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 on 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 five times on the Cup plinth.

The Walter Karo Trophy

Walter 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 it 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. 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” – a plaque with Cymbiola aulica. 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.

The John Fisher Trophy

In 2004 Club member John Fisher was one of the judges for the shell exhibition, and found judging difficult in the Junior Class. He felt that encouragement was needed to persuade junior members to exhibit, and he donated a cup to the Club. This is to be awarded to the best exhibit in the Junior Classes, taking into account whether the entry is in the “age 12 and over” or “age 11 and under” class.

The Scotia Shield

This new Shield was donated to the Club by member Brian Hammond, who had been given the shield by a friend; Brian arranged for this to be made into an appropriate award and asked the committee to decide where it should be awarded. The committee felt that, as we are the British Shell Collectors’ Club, there should be an award to recognise British shells. They agreed that this Shield should go to the exhibit or shell “Which best promotes the interests of British Conchology”. It was named the “Scotia Shield” to recognise its origin from Scotland.

Award winners since 1979

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