Shells, insects, plants, bones and taxidermy of living and recently living species.
Natural history collections built by amateurs have filled museum drawers for three centuries. The
specimens that matter most are the ones with complete data: what it is, where and when it was
collected, and by whom. Today the law matters as much as the data, because many species are
protected.
Getting Started
Shells (conchology), the most popular natural history field,
graded by condition.
Choose a group, a region or a habitat. Bird eggs are deliberately left out: collecting wild birds'
eggs is prohibited in most countries.
What to Record
ordicio’s data sheet follows Darwin Core, the standard museums use to share specimen data:
Taxonomy: the scientific name and higher groups, and who identified the specimen.
Locality and habitat: country, region, exact place, coordinates and the habitat it lived in.
Collector, date and field number.
Preparation: dried, pinned, papered, pressed, cleaned or mounted, and by whom.
Wild or bred: many insects in the trade are farmed or bred.
Legal status: the CITES appendix and any permits, which you need to keep and sell protected
species legally.
Condition and Grading
Shell dealers use the HMS and ISGS grades: Gem, Fine, Good and Commercial, with plus steps. Insects
are graded A1, A1-, A-, A2 and B in the trade. Note damage, repairs and missing parts.
Care and Storage
Store specimens in closed drawers or boxes, away from light, damp and pests: museum beetles and
moths destroy insect and taxidermy collections. Check them regularly and freeze new insect specimens
before adding them. Old taxidermy may contain arsenic - handle it with gloves.
Mistakes to Avoid
Buying protected species without the permits the law requires.
Keeping specimens without locality data, which makes them almost worthless to science.
The 32 fields worth recording for natural history specimens, grouped as in the
ordicio app.
Taxonomy
Scientific name Text
Genus and species with author and year if known, e.g. Phacops rana (Green, 1832); write 'sp.' when the species is not determined.
Common name Text
Vernacular name, e.g. Eyed trilobite, Common cockle.
Phylum Text
Phylum (or division for plants), e.g. Arthropoda, Mollusca, Chordata.
Class Text
Taxonomic class, e.g. Trilobita, Cephalopoda, Insecta.
Order Text
Taxonomic order, e.g. Phacopida, Ammonitida, Lepidoptera.
Family Text
Taxonomic family, e.g. Phacopidae, Papilionidae.
Determined by Text
Who identified the specimen and when (expert, museum, own determination).
Collection data
Where, when and by whom the specimen was collected.
Locality Text
Exact find site, as specific as possible, e.g. quarry, mine and level, beach, outcrop.
Region Text
State, province, county or district of the locality.
Country Text
Country of origin or issue, by its usual English name (historic states as named at the time, e.g. Kingdom of Bavaria).
Coordinates Place
Geographic position of the locality (keep private for sensitive sites).
Habitat Text
Habitat and conditions at collection, e.g. intertidal rocks, 20 m depth on sand, at light, beech forest.
Collected by Text
Person who collected or excavated the specimen.
Collection date Date
Date the specimen was collected in the field.
Field / collection number Text
Collector's field number or the number of an earlier collection.
Specimen
Sex / stage Choice
Sex or life stage of the specimen.
Male
Female
Pair
Juvenile / larva
Unknown
Quantity Whole number, at least 1
Number of identical pieces held, when they are recorded together.
Legal
Protection status and documents.
CITES status Choice
Listing of the species or material under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Not listed
Appendix I
Appendix II
Appendix III
Exempt (pre-Convention / antique)
Unknown
Permits & documents Text
Collecting, export, import or trade permits and certificates with their numbers and issuing authority.
Condition
Condition notes Text
Faults, wear and damage in detail.
Restoration & repairs Text
Restorations, repairs, replaced parts and cleaning, with who did them and when if known.
Acquisition
How and when the object came into the collection.
Acquisition date Date
Date the object came into the collection.
Acquisition method Choice, or your own
How the object came into the collection.
Purchase
Auction
Gift
Inheritance
Exchange / trade
Self-collected / found
Commission
Acquired from Text
Seller, auction house (with sale and lot number), donor or place where it was found.
Purchase price Amount
Price paid including fees and premiums.
Provenance Text
Earlier owners and the object's history, oldest first, with sources (labels, invoices, sale catalogues).
Value
Estimated and insured value.
Estimated value Amount
Current market value as estimated.
Valuation date Date
Date of the current value estimate.
Valuation basis Choice
What the estimated value is based on.
Own estimate
Recent sales / auction results
Dealer offer
Catalogue value
Professional appraisal
Insurance valuation
Insured value Amount
Sum the object is insured for.
Collection record
Your own inventory data.
Inventory number Text
Your own number or label for the object, e.g. C-0042, as written on its label or album page.
Storage location Text
Where the object is kept, e.g. room, cabinet, drawer, album and page, box.
Standards and References
The data sheets follow the standards collectors, dealers and museums use:
Darwin Core (TDWG) terms for occurrence and specimen data
HMS-ISGS shell grading standards (Gem, Fine, Good, Commercial with + and -)
Insect specimen trade quality grades (A1, A1-, A-, A2, B)
CITES appendices; EU Wildlife Trade Regulations; national nature protection laws
Herbarium practice (Index Herbariorum, herbarium sheet labels)
Updated October 24, 2026
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