Natural history collections embody both the creation of knowledge and the loss of biodiversity. While intended as repositories of scientific inquiry, they also serve as mausoleums, housing dead organisms that continue to decay despite preservation efforts. This paper is set to explore the tension between the museum as a site of conservation and as a space of inevitable loss. How does decay shape our understanding of specimens, collections, and ownership? As an attempt to find beginnings of modern day conundrums, this study examines the colonial origins of these collections and their entanglement with capitalist expansion, by tracing the steps of the German trading house Joh. Ces. Godeffroy & Sohn in the South Pacific in the 19th century. A focal point will be the contributions of zoologist Eduard Graeffe. Cesar Godeffroy established the Museum Godeffroy in 1861, aiming to amass natural history and ethnographic collections from the South Seas. Graeffe, commissioned by Godeffroy, conducted extensive research and collection expeditions in the Pacific. As fish and mollusks represent widely exchanged goods in this area and are also positioned differently in a forcefield of durability, currency and consumption, they are the main focus of this study. By examining these specimens at the intersection of scientific ambition, economic interest, and natural decay, this study highlights the fragility of knowledge production and the shifting value of biological remains over time.