I was born on  April 23,1937 .

After completing my high school education at the Tarsus American College, I travelled to Manchester, England to begin my university studies.

Upon receiving my degree as a mechanical engineer in 1961, I returned to Turkey to start off my career in a boiler room at the Sabanci family’s Bossa textile factory in Adana.

The same year I got married with Gülsen, my elementary school friend.

While Gülsen and I were walking nearby the lighthouse of Karatas, along the Mediterranean coast of Adana, we came across these wonders of nature, the seashells.  it was love at first sight and we have been collecting seashells ever since.

Years flew by... I was appointed as Project Manager of the Sabanci Group in 1963. In 1973 I was promoted as the founding General Manager of Kordsa Tire cord fabric company, which was established in Izmit.

Alongside the growth of the Sabanci Group, we, the Güleşçi family had grown as well. With our three daughters, Pınar, Pırıl and Petek, the Güleşçi’s moved to Istanbul, in 1973.

Upon successful completion of the mission at Kordsa, I was appointed as General Manager of Lassa Tire Company.  In 1985 I was promoted to be the General Coordinator at the newly restructured Sabancı Holding Company, the highest level for a non Sabanci professional. Later, in 1996 I reached reach the pinnacle of the Sabanci hierarchy as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

As part of my management responsibilities I visited many countries ranging from Japan to England, from Argentina to Norway, from Singapore to U.S.A.  In addition to these business trips, my wife and I travelled overseas with close friends.

No matter where we were, I would always find myself drawn into a seashell store, purchasing additional seashells for my collection. My wife’s encouragement and support have been invaluable in expanding  and enriching my collection.

I had seen the first systematic collection of seashells at The British Natural History Museum, during one of my London visits in 1986. This collection had been donated to the museum by an English Lord. Unfortunately, very few shells were on display and the remaining ones were kept in the drawers. Opening the drawers to study the contents was subject to a strict ceremony. I certainly liked the shells, but not liked the way they were presented.

When I retired from the Sabancı Group in 2000, we bought an apartment in Miami, Florida. Each year, we spend the period from January to March in Miami.   Florida is one of the centers of the seashell world. It is possible to find various assortments of seashells at the seashell stores. These shells are not only from the Florida coastline, but also from all other parts of the world. This great opportunity allowed us to develop and enrich our seashell collection further. Naturally I also purched through internet, but it is not my preference, I like to touch and inspect the shell before I buy.

Each year seashell exhibitions are organized in Sanibel, Naples, Marko Island and other locations of the Florida State.  Many stores sell seashells called ‘specimen’, which means the shell is worthy of being added to a collection. We have been visiting these places and completing the missing items of our collection. We became friends with Al Deynzer, his wife Bev and his son Neal who own the Showcase Shell Store Company. We have purchased numerous pieces from them and talked about the developments in the seashell world.  At Sanibel shell exhibition I had the opportunity to meet Peter Dance the author of “Compendum of Seashells”.

Every year my wife and I visit the “Bailey & Matthews” Shell Museum on Sanibel Island, which was established by a family foundation. It was a perfect exhibition with respect to the variety of seashells, display methods and the technology utilized. The idea of displaying my collection in a way that is reminiscent of the style of the “Bailey & Matthews Shell Museum” started at that time.

In London, R. Kenneth Wye who was the owner of a seashell store presented me a signed copy of his “Encyclopedia of seashells”  During this period I realized the importance of the seashell books to identify seashells.

Whenever I go to Germany, I visit Weisbaden to see my friends Mr. & Mrs. Hemmen who are experts on shells. I purchase new specimens to my collection, purchase seashell books and discuss the trends with them.

To Hemmen’s today land shell collecting opens another vast area for collectors.

Beside collecting seashells. I have hobbies such as stamps, gramophones movie dvd, fire arms and off course gardening. I believe that ‘buying’ a ready complete collection does not make it your hobby. No matter what type of a collection you make, you need to start collecting piece by piece, when you are young and you need to expand and enrich the collection step by step. It is an exciting, lifelong experience. Each step allows you to escape the stress of your business routines and revitalize your soul and mind.

During your retirement you would enjoy reviewing your collection and share it with your family and friends, at the fullest.

Molluscan nomenclature (a systematic and universal system for naming and labeling the seashells) that has developed through the years.

The hierarchy for the systematic classification of the seashells is as follows:

    Class

    Superfamily

    Family

    Subfamily

    Genus

Each of these has been given Latin names. ‘’Genus’’, is the individual name given to  each of the approximately 120.000 known seashells. Each name contains information about;

    the location, in which it has been found;

    the person, who has found it;

    the date it was found, and

    the size

I have in my collection over 5000 seashell’s  belonging to 146 families and I intend to keep it growing.

I have attached photos and “identification cards” of two seashells to exemplify the method of classification.

Shells have always been considered “artifices of nature”, and therefore a tangible reflection of the wonder and perfection of Creation. The “recreation of the eye and of the mind” inspired by these marine creatures is a concept that dates back to Cicero        (106-43 BC),  in the De oratore, Cicero exalted the value of the otium and amicitia cultivated by two friends who spent their hours of leisure collecting shells. The beauty of shells, furthermore, was believed to possess not only the twin faculty of elevating the spirit and recreating the senses, but also the quality of refining the taste and creativity of artists. The innumerable shapes and appearances of shells, sometimes immaculately white, other times dazzlingly colored, have in fact always inspired the manufacture of artistic objects in all forms, from painting to the work of goldsmiths, from architecture to textiles, from sculpure to furniture and from weapons to stage design.

Some examples of wide spread use of shells, for both decorative and practical purposes are;

A)    Food:

Discarded shells have been found in the waste-heaps of prehistoric settlements, but the Romans may have been one of the earliest peoples to farm molluscs, particularly oysters, as a food source.

B)    Currency and trade:

The use of cowrie shells, as a form of currency was widespread in Asia, Central Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Malaysian Islands. Early traders made fortunes by carrying cowries from the Indian and Pacific oceans to West Africa, where they were exchanged for ivory, palm-oil, and semi-precious stones.

C)    Religion :

The emblem of St.James is a scallop, and in times past pilgrims who visited his shrine at Santiago de Compostela would bring back a shell as proof of their pilgrimage.

The chank shell, is sacred to the Hindu god Vishnu.

D)      Fashion and jewellery:

Shells have been used for adornment from the earliest times. Cowries, which were consecrated to Venus, were worn by Roman women and were often given as bridal gifts.

E)    Art and architecture:

Shells are, and always have been, a great source of inspiration for artists. Of all shells, the scallop has perhaps been most frequently used-ornamenting Roman lead coffins, decorating niches and porticoes, carved above church doorways, chosen by Botticelli as a vehicle for Venus rising from the waves.

Few living things can be preserved in a way that retains their natural beauty. For this reason, shells, which deteriorate little, are particularly attractive to collectors.

The conchology – as the study and collecting of shells brought a nature enthusiast to the idea of displaying the special stamps showing the intricate beauty of shells in all their wonder.

Shells, with amazing diversity and complexity of colour, shape and form, as living organism subject to the laws of nature and “Shells on Stamps” another favoured area of infectious enthusiasm, together have provided an inexhaustible opportunity for specialisation.

We were keeping our seashells in glass displays in our summerhouse at the Maya Holiday Village in Bodrum. When we moved to our new summerhouse at Gundogan in 2007, I had the opportunity to realize my dream of building an actual gallery. Taking advantage of the large house and with the suggestions of my wife, we built a display area of 80 m2 with latest technology.

Architects  Şükrü  Dökücü,  Erol Düzgören and  Berrak Büyükarda Özdoğan   assisted me  in designing and  constructing special glass showcases.  We applied modern illumination system using projectors and let lighting.

When the number of seashells exceeded 4500, I reviewed them and started to perfect their classification. During this process, a seashell  library consisting of nearly  100 books accumulated in my library.  We utilized  the full advantage of  the  internet. 

For classification I worked together with Volkan Acar, who owns a seashell store in Bodrum.  My assistants  Berna Önen,  Banu Ayşe Özdemir  and  Mustafa  Koca have worked with  great care and dedication in labelling photoshopping, listing and preparing database of the shells.

Gülsen and I  often discussed about the continuity  and sharing the collection with a wider audience.

During one of my  chats with Volkan Acar, I had voiced out my worries about what would happen to my seashell collection after me. He suggested investigating the opportunity to exhibit the collection at the Bodrum Municipality Maritime Museum. He called me the very next day to convey that Mehmet Kocadon, Mayer of Bodrum  and Deniz Eyinç, Board Member of Bodrum Chamber of Commerce would be visiting me to see my collection.

Therefore, the visit of Mayor Kocadon and Mr. Eyinç has been a valuable opportunity to realize my vision.  Their constructive and sincere thoughts of exhibiting my collection at the museum impressed me and thus decided to go ahead with the implementation of the plan.

As stated in the protocol signed with Mayor Kocadon and Mahmut Serdar Kocadon, the President of Bodrum Chamber of Commerce, I will continue to work with the Museum to further enrich the collection by adding new pieces. 

I hope you, the visitors would share the same excitement and joy I have felt  throughout  the largest part of my life in collecting seashells.

Warm regards,

Hasan Güleşçi  

Bodrum Maritime Museum

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