Shell

Most shells used in jewelry are the hard case of a mollusk. The best-known examples come from conchs, mollusks, black-lipped oysters, and abalone. Most shells are the byproduct of harvesting mollusks for food.

Shell jewelry has been found from an archeological site in Morocco that dates to 82,000 years ago. Mother-of-pearl is used to decorate gun hilts and knife handles.

Shell is a popular material with cameo carvers that take advantage of the colored banded layers to create dramatic scenes or human figures.