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Trading Post

Are you between six and 14 years old, and is your room filled with treasures you've carefully collected from nature? Would you like help identifying them? Or, maybe you'd like to trade them for other items? Then the Trading Post is for you! These guidelines will help you get the most out of the museum's Trading Post.

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What You Can Trade

Three girls and a museum staff member look at and touch shells and a dried sea star in our Trading Post.

Martin Lipman © Canadian Museum of Nature

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You may trade specimens found in nature that are collected responsibly, which means that only one or two specimens are collected, leaving the rest undisturbed.

"Tradeable" items could be empty shells from the beach, fossils, minerals or rocks.

Certain items may not be traded:

live animals
plants (dried or not)
eggs and nests
corals
antlers
skulls
bones with flesh or fur
food
pets
bacteria or other micro-organisms
funguses and mosses
bark
items collected in protected areas (conservation areas or parks)
endangered species
items made by humans.

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In some circumstances, we may accept projects or written work with photographs or drawings of objects that may not be traded.

The items you wish to trade must be properly prepared: insects must be pinned, and shells, fossils or minerals washed.

We will accept a maximum of five items per trade, and no more than two identical items. Each item must fit into a medium-sized sandwich bag.

How to Trade

Bring the items you wish to trade to the Trading Post, on the fourth floor of the museum.

Trading Tips

The number-one trick for getting maximum value for your item is to give us information. The more information you provide (identification of the item, where it was found, who found it), the higher the value you will receive.
Give us a list of items that you'd like to receive in trade. If you do, the chances are higher that you will get what you want.
You can open an account at the Trading Post and accumulate points. You can save your points until you have enough to trade for a higher value item that you really want.