Puka shell

This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The talk page may contain suggestions. (October 2023)

This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Puka shells are naturally occurring bead-like shells found on the beaches of Hawaii or other places. Each bead is the beach-worn apex of a cone snail. Such shells are often strung as necklaces, known as puka shell necklaces. Puka is the Hawaiian word for "hole" and refers to the naturally occurring hole in the middle of these rounded and worn shell fragments.

Numerous inexpensive imitations are now widely sold as puka shell necklaces. The majority of contemporary "puka shell necklaces" are not made from cone shells, but from other shells, or even from plastic. In addition, some strings of beads are currently sold that are made from cone shells, but the beads in these necklaces were not formed by natural processes. They were instead worked by hand from whole shells using pliers to break the shell down to the needed part, and then subjecting the rough results to tumble finishing, in order to give each bead more or less smooth edges in imitation of the natural wear-and-tear a shell receives when tumbled in the surf over long periods of time.^{[citation needed]}

The original all-natural puka shells were very easily made into necklaces, bracelets and anklets because they were naturally pierced, which enabled them to be strung like beads. Such jewellery were often gifted by Hawaii's royal families to foreign dignitaries,^[1] but it was only during the tourism boom of the 1960s, after the islands' admission into the US, that it became massively popular as an attractive and inexpensive lei that could be made and sold on the beach. In the 1970s, this type of shell jewelry became highly sought after by celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and prices skyrocketed. The craftsmanship also became more refined and the lei pūpū puka, puka shell leis were strung in graduated or matching styles, rather than the original random patterns. It was highly sought after in the 1990s starting from Californians and their surf culture.^[1]

Many "legends" about the puka shell were created during this time, and these stories also helped sales.