Red Abalone

I recently purchased a red abalone shell. This shell was a large shell picked up by a local collector 20 or 30 years ago out in California. No telling how long it sat around his shop before I came a long and destroyed it. :o) It was a truly beautiful shell, but probably would have been graded medium quality at best as far as those things are rated. Still even this shell was amazing in comparison to the color of fresh water shell. Here are two of the pieces I have made so far with that shell. Once I get my earrings posted you will see why abalone is the king of shells, but these pieces certainly show the incredible depth of color and some of the iridescence of pure natural abalone I am definitely looking forward to purchasing more of this incredible material.