Genuine handmade Native American piece comes directly from the Southwestern U.S. The use of gemstones for personal adornment by Southwestern Indians dates from prehistoric times, and the use of silver by the Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi is almost 100 years old.
Abalone or paua shell comes from the abalone, a sea mollusk. The pearly inside of the shell is polished and used in jewelry making and other decoration. New Zealand abalone have a particularly striking rainbow-colored inside shell. Abalone is usually harvested by divers and prized for its meat as well as its beauty.Shining black jet is dense lignite, a variety of coal. Beautiful mother-of-pearl has long been used in jewelry and for other decorative purposes. Also known as nacre, mother-of-pearl is the lustrous layer found on the inside of shells of certain mollusk species. The smoothness of the material protects the mollusk's body and defends against damage and disease. If the mollusk's body becomes irritated by a parasite or foreign body, the animal may isolate the cause of the problem by encasing it in secreted nacre. The resulting object is a pearl. Shells are mineral structures formed by aquatic creatures and land mollusks. Lustrous shells including mother-of-pearl have been carved into cameos and buttons since antiquity. The beauty and variety of shells make them a sought-after decorative material. Beautiful turquoise is a phosphate mineral popular all over the world. Mined since 5000 BC, it is one of the first gemstones known to be used by humans. Color variation from sky-blue to medium green is affected by differing amounts of copper and iron, more copper giving the stone a bluer color and more iron a greener one. Beautiful light blue turquoise is mined in Northern Iran and other varieties occur in Mexico, the United States and elsewhere.
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