The familiar world-wide symbol of the Shell Group is called the "pecten". The form it is known by today is a stylized version of the Pecten maximus, the great or edible scallop. The pecten became the symbol of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group because co-founder Marcus Samuel made his earliest fortune importing knick-knacks made from exotic sea shells from the far east. When Samuel's "Shell" Transport and Trading Company merged with Royal Dutch Petroleum Company in 1907, a shell was adopted as the company's symbol and trademark. If public recognition of a company's trademark is worth money, then the Shell Group should be prosperous for many years. A recent study indicated that with the exception of Santa Claus, the Shell pecten is the most recognized symbol in the world. Since trademarks are a symbol of a company and represent the quality of that company's products, there's a lot of money to be made in counterfeiting a well-known trademark like the pecten and using it to sell inferior, cut-rate products. That's why trademark theft and trademark counterfeiting are serious crimes all over the world. Pecten is the Latin word for comb. Pliny, the Roman philosopher, gave scallops the name because their round outline with ribs radiating outwards reminded him of a style of comb popularly used during the Roman Empire. The pecten (Shell's version) has gone through some facelifts over the years. In fact the first pecten wasn't a pecten (scallop shell) at all. It was a mussel shell introduced in 1900 and replaced in 1904 by the first version of the scallop shell motif. All of the Shell Group's ocean-going tankers are named for varieties of shells, a tradition started with launching of the 5,010 ton Murex in 1892. although the Shell tanker fleet is very large, there's little danger the company will ever run out of names, since there are literally hundreds of thousands of varieties of sea shells. Sea shell names are also given to many other things in Shell, including a wide range of marine and industrial lubricants. Just as McDonald's doesn't let anyone tamper with its Golden Arches, Shell is strict about maintaining the integrity of the pecten. Thick books of rules and regulations are sent out to Shell companies worldwide. Included in the lengthy lists of instructions are items like: "The pecten should not be modified or altered or added to in any way. Absolutely no changes or additions may be made to the emblem." (That means no happy faces, no superimposed oil derricks and no cat's whiskers, to mention just a few additions that have appeared incorrectly and very briefly.) Although the pecten is the best-known of Shell's trademarks, it isn't the only one. Shell owns a mind-boggling 60,000 trademark registrations in 171 countries, in respect of 2,000 individual trademarks. In addition to the pecten, in Canada these include familiar registered names like V-Power, and Rotella T. The pecten symbol currently in use worldwide was designed in 1971 by world-renowned industrial engineer Raymond Loewy, who also designed the big red cabinet dispensers for Coca-Cola and the label for Carling Black Label beer. The design and testing process completed by Loewy's firm took more than four years. One of the tests involved hanging various prototype pectens on poles where they could be viewed by drivers passing on a nearby British motorway. Drivers were later contacted for their opinions on the prototypes. At one time the pecten used by the Shell Oil Company in the United States was different from that used by every other Shell company worldwide. The U.S. Pecten was slightly narrower, and the red was a different shade. The outside lines (flutes) of the shell met and came to a point at the base, instead of being cut off as was the case with the traditional pecten. When the pecten emblem was redesigned in 1971, Shell Oil was not a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group as it is today. Sensitive to concerns of the U.S. public about foreign ownership, Shell Oil requested and received permission to design its own slightly different pecten symbol to maintain its arm's-length relationship with the Shell Group. Today they use the same pecten as other Shell companies. Today the Shell pecten may be best-known as the symbol of a place to buy quality petroleum products and services, but the scallop shell from which it derives has a long and venerable history as an emblem. For example, the scallop was the badge worn by medieval pilgrims to the shrine of St. James at Campostello in Spain. Several European families also use the scallop shell on their coats of arms. In fact, the arms of the Chaberlain family of Britain and France show gold pectens on a red background, a combination remarkably similar to today's Shell colours! The great scallop -- the pattern for Shell's pecten - travels by jet propulsion. It moves swiftly through the water by propelling jets of water through openings in its shell, and with powerful opening and closing motions. The great scallop is a symbol used by artists through the centuries. Greek temples and Roman vases are adorned with the shell. Medieval swordsmen commonly used a gold scallop on the hilt of their weapons to denote their rank and wealth. One of the most famous artistic uses of the scallop is the Triton fountain in Rome's Piazza Barberini. Designed by Bernini, the fountain shows Triton, son of the sea god Poseidon, rising from the depths of the sea in a scallop shell. Have you ever enjoyed Coquille St. Jacques in a French restaurant? If you have, you know the dish you ate was made from scallops. Translated, the name means Shell of St. James, so-called because for years the scallop was worn on the robes of pilgrims travelling to the shrine of St. James the Apostle in Campostello, Spain. The scallop symbol identified them as harmless pilgrims and allowed them to move unmolested through wars and civil unrest. Early in this century, archeologists digging in the ruins of the ancient Greek town of Olynthus discovered a large burial urn from about 370 B.C. It shows the birth of Aphrodite (Venus), rising full-grown from a scallop shell, a theme which parallels the emergence of Athene, armed and ready for battle, from the brow of Zeus. Interestingly enough, Eros, Aphrodite's son, is shown in the background watching her scallop shell birth.
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