Spiny Oyster and Zuni Necklace

The Spiny Oyster gemstone is a colorful shell that comes from the oyster species “Spondylus varius”, as the name implies, Spiny Oysters are covered with menacing spines. Spiny Oyster shells are unique, beautiful, and also difficult-to-harvest. Typically found along the coasts of North Carolina all the way down to the waters near Brazil, also in the Sea of Cortez, and off the coast of Baja Mexico and Baja California. The shells of the Spiny Oyster are rare finds and are especially treasured by Native American Indian artists for their beautiful red, pink, brown, yellow, orange, purple, and white colors. Many Zuni artists started creating with Spiny Oyster once Coral was endangered and unable to be mined. Orange spiny oyster can range in color from yellow to orange to red. This orange spiny oyster is the more common variety, it is found at mid to low ocean depths so snorkelers and scuba divers can easily get to it. Purple spiny oyster AKA “deep purple” spiny oyster is much harder to harvest because of the ocean depth in which it is found. This makes purple spiny oyster rarer and often harder to find.