Bleach would be my answer - but start w/a weak solution first, maybe a quarter cup to a gal of water and go from there.
Also, the bleach would disinfect which isn't a bad thing.

Jim

I think bleach works the best. You dont need much, soak them in a bucket of water with bleach added. Change it out a few times then let them air dry. They should smells much better. Vinegar is another good cleaner, but I think Bleach really gets the fishy smell out. My sister in law was just talking this morning about last months Traditional Homes magazine. I think it was about a retired Talbots window decorator who had a home in the South and summer home up North. This woman decorated her home in all sorts of shell things....was that the magazine you were talking about.

Google....How to clean shells for some add'l ideas.

Jim

I bring home shells on a regular basis. I just leave them out in the sun as long as it takes. You can soak them in water or in a bleach or vinegar solution if necessary, but try the sun first. Keep in mind that both sunshine and bleach will lift some of the color.

It sounds like the problem is that you picked up live sand dollars and shells with the critters still alive in them. You are smelling them because now they have died. Only time or a weak bleach solution will help at this point.

Guess I will start with bleach then put them outside for a while. Thanks!

gk-I don't think it was Traditional Home, but then again I can't remember if it was a magazine that I purchased or just flipped though while waiting for the grocery line. I guess it doesn't matter since those types of mags never give instructions. I am thinking that I should glue the shells on a base then maybe use something like spackle with sand pressed into it to fill in the crevices.

Ewww on the dead things! I hope I didn't accidently take a life of anything. I didn't realize that a sand dollar could be alive (even though it makes sense). Oyster shells smell bad too even though there are no bits left on them. Didn't exactly know why husband picked those up... he was trying to help.

:)

Stuff from the beach smells. It definitely doesn't need to still be alive, so I wouldn't worry about that. Good luck & enjoy the shells! :)

There may be 'raw meat' inside them. I got some big shells in the Bahamas that were being sold at a stand by the beach. They stunk, so I put them in plastic bags so the smell would not get in my luggage and I planned to wash them when I got home. Then I noticed flies IN the Zip-Lock bags. The shells were filled with maggots.

Actually the maggots would be natures way of "cleaning" the shells. I did not want to throw away shells I paid for, nor did I wish to bring maggots and exotic flies home with me. So I boiled them and left them on a window sill to bake and dry out. When I got home I bleached them just to be on the safe side.

While there, we noticed in front of one of the hotel doors a bunch of these big shells set outside the door. Upon meeting the occupants they commented that their room was filled with flies and they complained to the hotel staff. They were asked "Did you buy shells?" and told that that was the source of the swarms of flies in their room. They were told to just put them outside and let the maggots do their work and they shells should be OK in a few days. I guess it is a common complaint there.

If the sandollars were gray in color, and pliable, then they were probably still alive (especially if you picked them up right after a storm, or in the ocean.) If they were off white, then they were already dead and shouldn't have a bad smell. I use bleach to "brighten" my sand dollars. The bleach smell is sometimes worse then the actually beachy smell. Vinegar sounds like a good option.

If you found conch shells, or small curly shells, they could have had a hermit in them.

Funny story:
On a trip to a SC beach, my children and I collected shells. Some were the small curly, conch type shells. We placed the shells on the dining room buffet. During dinner, I happened to look over and see a shell crawling across the buffet. We sadly realized that a hermit was still inside, and quickly ran him back to the ocean.

OMG. That is so funny. I'm glad you were able to save him and get him back to its home. Good thing you discovered your new friend while you were awake and he did not start crawling in the middle of the night. That would have been a shocking way to wake up.