The word "puka" is originally a Hawaiian word meaning "hole" or "opening." The puka shell is initially a shell containing a mollusk. Upon their deaths or when they get eaten, the force of the water bringing these shells towards the shorelines usually causes holes from the wear in each shell's weak center.
Ideally, a puka shell is a symmetrical cone snail sea shell with a hole at its center.
Puka shells are found in many tropical beaches and coastal regions worldwide. In terms of popularity, this type of shell is distinct in Hawaii and the Philippines, which are both top world producers and exporters of accessories, jewelries, novelty items, decorative displays and arts and craft works that use puka shells as primary raw material.
Being island jewels considered as lucky charms, many people adorn themselves with puka shell jewelries during and after vacationing in tropical islands. Many people also order them as gifts for family members, friends and co-workers.
Puka shells come from one of the species of the cone snails under the Conidae family. Although the use of the term puka shell now extends to other types of shells made into art and craft accessories, puka shells are technically the naturally-occuring bead-like shells with a hole at the tip.
Drills and machines became widely used in polishing and drilling holes to various other shells primarily made into jewelries. Many of them are now referred to as puka shell accessories as well.
Puka shells became a popular material used in beach-inspired necklaces, bracelets, anklets not only for their interesting looks and the traditional belief of being a charm to protect people traveling by sea, but also because of the practicality of beading the shells together through their natural holes. Soon, they were also made into earrings, brooches and other forms of fashion jewelry products. Items using puka shells also expanded to many other decorative, novelty and gift items such as figurines, rosaries and paper weights.
