newsletter: france, brittany 6 · 9/7/2019 · collectors and the ones enjoying fabulous coasts....

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Guido T Poppe amp Philippe Poppe - Since 1994

New Additions | Auction | Encyclopedia | Shell Topics Sept 07 2019

TREGASTEL - PAIMPOL- QUIBERON

Treacutegastel a few kilometers to the west of Perros-Guirec is a major place for shellcollectors and the ones enjoying fabulous coasts There is an estuary with beaches todream from the Plage de Toulbihan has yellowish sands with small Islets in frontovergrown with algae and all what a natural history soul can wish Just south of it thePlage du Grannec and in the middle of the bay Tanguy Island with rocks of pink granite

Treacutegastel is used by humans for at least 10 000 years there are dolmen and menhirin the region - I did not find them back this trip but I remember that 30 years ago thedolmen was used to shelter the cowshellip Fortunately they are better protected in moderndays

What makes the visit particularly interesting is a local aquarium build inside anensemble of gigantic coastal rocks This aquarium exists since many years and theevolution to something particular and especially educational is all positive

For newcomers to the newsletters best follow this trip on Google Earth by typingKey words such as Treacutegastel Paimpol andor Quiberon This will give an easygeographic overview of how we move The same key words can be used in Wikipediamany of the places are so charged with history that Wikipedia has pages and pages withthe most interesting details on each of them Quiberon is a good example on that

We continue with documented photographs

NEWSLETTER FRANCE BRITTANY 6



As soon as one enters the rocks well situated in each corner are the aquaria Onemore interesting than another all full of marine life in excellent health

An aquarium with fishes I do not remember if these are young sea bass or mulletsbut this is the kind of fish living in the shallows either in the waves near the beach or inharbors and not that easy to keep in aquaria



There are many aquaria with the most curious things Here an ensemble of sharkeggs with the young sharks with their beating heart sometimes visible through the eggcase moving inside waiting to be born

Also quite some shells and a fine set of you guess it the national shell of BrittanyPecten maximus Lurking at us with its many eyes



This aquarium has many schools and groups of youngsters visiting They haveprofessional teachers and special ponds to teach the pupils not only essential marinenatural history lives but they go into the details and for this a series of aquaria with manysmall animals which one does usually not see in this kind of place

As we go in and out of the rocky caves touch pools wherever the water can stay



At the entrance or exit a fine shop with postcards books maquettes animals inall kinds of materials And also many posters explaining the details on each species onecan collect either for food or curiosity Here on the left the Cerastoderma edule a commonbivalve which is a great target for a weekend out at low tide on the sand flats On the rightslightly more difficult to catch the delicious European shrimp

At one moment in the aquarium you get stairs to go on top of the rocks in which theaquarium is housed from there a superb overview over part of the small city the coast andthe hinterland

After Treacutegastel we moved back to Paimpol for a last late afternoon and evening withMichel and Sylvie Apart from the fabulous harbor shown in an earlier newsletter Paimpolhas a historic old center with plenty of shops some the more interesting as they sell localcrafts art work and antiques



The center of Paimpol is definitely well maintained and renovated I guess a dozenyears ago all is clean and beautiful Best start on the place here which in most cities willbe called the market or the central place There are spacious parking nearby and thisplace branches out to several pleasing small streets

Century-old houses add to the charms



And one shop got thousands of pieces of porcelain and pottery This was an Ali-Baba cave for your author The shop holder was a fine lady with big knowledge on hersubjects and in no time I could acquire at more than a reasonable price at least 25 oysterplates including several platters some dating back to the beginning of the century

But time was running out and Philippe spend still some time photographing birds amongthese this sea gull with a great interest in the harbor buoy

The next morning we left the northern coast of Brittany and headed south There areperfect highways all through Brittany and it takes between 3 to 4 hours to reach the south



coast From Paimpol one drives back to Saint Brieuc then straight south to Quiberon

Quiberon is a Peninsula which reaches about 15 km far in the Gulf of Biscaye Itswaters are crystal clear There is a Bay side directed to Carnac the historical city worldfamous for its rows of menhirs This bay side has almost all year-round flat waters and aspectacular rich molluscan fauna where one can find Mediterranean species such asCallista chione and Tellina incarnata quite rare elsewhere in Brittany

The other side the western side of Quiberon is rocky and has waves almost all yearround This side is called the Cocircte Sauvage in French which means Wild coast

It is the paradise of algae and open ocean conditions I could only make a couple ofdives there - on exceptional calm days - with scuba gear This is decades ago but Iremember the very slow slope at 10 meters it takes half a km to get at 20 meters at theplace I dived The water was impressive 40 m visibility Giant starfish reaching one meterand the beautiful sea urchins Echinus esculentus all over the bottom spaced about 10meters from each other they resembled white flowers Not too many shells impressivefishes several big congers - sea eels Conger conger watched my coming and going

Here some highlights of the two days we spent on Quiberon this time bad weatherchased us out

This is on the very far point of the Peninsula the beach of Pointe du ConguelBetween 14 and 16 years old I spend several months there so this was definitely the placeto show to Philippe and Alex son and grandson From where we stand to the end of thebeach there was not one stone sand or algae patch between 1 and 4 meters deep I didnot know out of the heart The photo of the Solen marginatus taken with salt in EuropeanSeashells 2 has been made on this beach but at extreme low tide



And it was of course a particular pleasure for all of us to see Alex getting excited withthe findings on the beach of Pointe du Conguel

As the weather was not nice we turned to the not so windy city on the west side ofQuiberon Here the center of Quiberon proper with in the background the ferry to Belle Icirclethe Beautiful Island



As leisure time was there we found not better than visit and shop in the severalConserveries These are houses specialized in the canning of fish especially sardinesThe open ocean conditions of the Atlantic in Quiberon favor this kind of catch and I mustsay the only competition to the fine quality of the Quiberon sardines are the Portugueseand some rare Spanish harbors

Here the main cannery La belle-iloise which means Beautiful lady of the Island



Inside this is a treasure cove for nice boxes As explained earlier the boxes are nowcollectors item and some are especially made in collectors edition





There are stands inside where one can taste the latest culinary inventions on thelevel of canned fish Here teaching Alex how to go ahead with all that For the occasion weall brought our marine clothes from the good time at sea in the Philippines including thehat of Alex



The Belle Atildeloise packing our shopping we got in one afternoon sardines tuna andpilchards good for almost one year Must be said they made a golden price down-wardsand the beautiful boxes helping

This digital shows the most photographed place in Quiberon On the point of thissmall Peninsula which is in fact the start of the Wild Coast which runs about 10 km northfrom here there is a castle called Chateau Turpault

The Peninsula itself is called in Breton the Beg er Lann or the moorland point Thecastle is still private and has been built in 1904 Looks like a ghost place



The Wild Coast of Quiberon is a beautiful place when sunny the sea is then bluewith contrasting whites the rocks are shiny as they are kind of pale cream granite speckledwith whites blacks and glistening crystals But when the storms are released all thesechanges this coast becomes more spectacular than ever ground waves raising metershigh on the rocks producing foams and forces you can watch from pretty close Of courseproper clothes and a careful approach are the rule it is cold and windy Here a view on abig wave in the back Belle Atildele quite offshore



This open water buoy is many meters high imagine the height of the waves thefoam goes more than 10 meters high The storm here photographed took some humanlives of fisherfolk and their rescue boats in the region of Saint Nazaire a little more south

After a couple of hours in the storms we headed back to Quiberon city properwhere in the meantime low tide set in As you can see there is again several metersamplitude which facilitates definitely the life of the shell collector



And we end the afternoon with a superb Crecircpe Sarrasin These are not the sweetcrecircpes as we see in most of the planet but the Sarrasin are filled with all kinds of foodeggs cheeses hams fishes and the like They are usually made with black flours andeaten before one starts with the uppermost delicious sweet crecircpes

We continue our last day in Quiberon in the next newsletter and then move morewestwards further into the Atlantic

AUCTION RESULTS

Last week REGULAR AUCTION went very well All 100 shells are sold manybargains were made but some shells also were beating record prices for their species



The most expensive shell of the auction was likely also the highest price paid for acosmopolitan Monoplex nicobaricus of the family CYMATIIDAE However looking at thebeauty of the piece combined with the size of 78 mm we are talking definitely about abest shell out of hundreds So the buyer likely acted out of knowledge

Another piece of beauty a green eglantina with the green evenly set all over the shellin an uppermost astonishing way broad shaped on top This piece went through 20 bidsup to 70 euro



There is always quite a number of bargains in the regular auctions as interests aredivided so when lucky one can pick up unique pieces for close to nothing It was the casewith the FREAK Oliva keeni from Nocnocan region in Bohol with a very unique irregularshape on the body whorl A museum piece that changed hands for 1 euro well below ourbuying price

Sincerely yours

Guido T Poppe For Conchology Inc

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As soon as one enters the rocks well situated in each corner are the aquaria Onemore interesting than another all full of marine life in excellent health

An aquarium with fishes I do not remember if these are young sea bass or mulletsbut this is the kind of fish living in the shallows either in the waves near the beach or inharbors and not that easy to keep in aquaria































































AUCTION RESULTS









Sincerely yours


You can contact us





































































AUCTION RESULTS









Sincerely yours


You can contact us














Sincerely yours


You can contact us







newsletter: france, brittany 6 · 9/7/2019 · collectors and the ones enjoying fabulous coasts....

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