This rare and valuable original 1835 plate of two volutes from our hemisphere will be offered at the 2015 COA Convetion Auction. It is the work of Louis Charles Kiener (31 July 1799 – 24 July 1881) who was a French malacologist born in Paris.
The plate comes from his 12-volume, “Spécies général et iconographie des coquilles vivantes comprenant la collection du Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Paris, la collection Lamarck, celle du prince Masséna (appartenant maintenant a M.B. Delessert) et les découvertes récentes des voyageurs.”
In English the title would be “General species and iconography of recent shells: comprising the Massena Museum, the collection of Lamarck, the collection of the Museum of Natural History, and the recent discoveries of travelers.”
This book was and is one of the most important contributions in the field of conchology as it cataloged all the species know at that time. The 12 volumes have full descriptions of every shell in the museum’s collection along with hand drawn illustrations of each specie.
For those doing research, “Spécies général et iconographie” has been digitized and can be found on the internet.
In his memory, the following are a few species named after him:
Lophotriorchis kienerii (G. de Sparre, 1835)
Murexsul kieneri (Reeve, 1845)
Thais kieneri (Deshayes, 1844)
Cypraea kieneri (Kiener’s cowry) (Hidalgo, 1906).
The plate was donated by Richard Kent on behalf of the Broward Shell Club. This could be a once in a life time opportunity to acquire an original plate. As it illustrates two favorites of American collectors, Voluta ebraea and Voluta musica, it is of special interest.
Broward Shell Club 
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