Shells and their use in the jewelry world

In the countries of the Pacific-South Asian region, products made of jewelry materials of organogenic origin associated with the vital activity of marine organisms are popular. A lot has already been said and written about corals, pearls and calcareous algae, the turn of shells has come. The shells can be used as a whole or in the form of jewelry and ornamental material. The most commonly used shells with mother-of-pearl are mother-of-pearl oysters and heliotis (abalone). Less commonly, scallops, mussels, tsiprei (cowrie) and other shells. Gastropod shells are used for cutting cameos and intaglios, cabochon cutting or textured cutting. You can often find beads cut from a shell and resembling coral in appearance. Most often, such beads are made from the shells of a bivalve mollusk - tridacna, or from the shells of large gastropods. Sometimes, in appearance, such beads can be confused with coral, but upon closer examination, even with the help of minimal magnification and additional lighting, the characteristic growth structure of the shell will become noticeable. Sellers, as a rule, do not hide the material of the beads, but sometimes, counting on a tourist, such beads are passed off as coral. But if you bought an inexpensive souvenir and it turned out not to be of the desired material, do not be discouraged, because the souvenir is designed to remind you of an event or a trip and it is not so important what it is made of - a shell, seaweed or inexpensive coral.