Paua or Abalone Panels on Resin, Stretchy Bracelet

These 18 panels are ~1 3/16" long, ~3/8" wide on the shell side, ~3/16" thick, with tapered long edges.The taut circle is ~2 5'16" in diameter. Most panels have 2 pieces of shell, several have 3. The interior black material is unknown, bur a few show file marks at their ends that suggest hand work; total weight is 1.08 ounces. The stretch band material appears modern, an' is apparently in perfect condition. Are any of you joolies familiar with this or similar bracelets? Where were they made, an' is this 'new' or just older but apparently unused? Thanks for Lookin'!
PS: There would be 2 more pics, but the site bandwidth makes loading them pretty slow; I don't know how these double-loaded, either.

Moderator: Please delete one of these double posts; neither showed as completed earlier. Thank you!

 

abalone , likely Mexico ....

 

High probable, Komo...thanks!

 

Agree. Abalone as a material is the shell of a large seasnail.

Paua is also abalone, only from New Zealand, and it often has more intense colours. The colourful paua is called 'blackfoot paua'. New Zealand also has yellow and white paua.

Abalone of every colour is part of the haliotis family. The inside of the shell is mother-of-pearl, just like the white MOP we know from buttons and inlaywork, but it is generally known by local names for the seasnail, like paua and abalone.

 

Thank you, AJ...that's a lovely summary. I used Paua as I think the color intensity elevated them above the abalone of my Southern California youth, which I dove for an' harvested for food in the shallow waters in the San Diego area; in those days, we just threw the shells away!

 

A real treat, although you probably didn't see it as such. Very nutritious too.

 

Yes Whit-We also ate gobs of Abalone from the waters of Marin & Sonoma County. It was almost harvested to extinction !
Gift basket-Coastal Miwok:

 

Yes, it was...an' is now protected. But it wasn't the sport-catch that took its toll; like the pink scallop, an' sea urchin, commercial harvest, much of it for export, is the root-cause for that dramatic decline. Sigh...

 

Too true Whit-It's the insatiable need for these foods by a sector of the world's population,and Poachers who serve that market.
PS- Paua Abalone, or Paula Abdul...one wonders ?

 

not really...but I have heard the stories go guys diving off the Cali coast , for a yummy seafood dinner !

 

It's work; 20 to 30 feet deep in surging surf, among a rocky bottom; you're free-diving with a snorkel. After you pry 2 to 4 of them off their perch, into a gunny-sack hung in a truck inner-tube, there's the cleaning of their edible 'foot', then slicing that into ~1/2" slabs...an' then, with the edge of a solid dinner plate, tenderizing those slabs until they're only about 3/16" thick...a lot of pounding! Butter an' garlic in a very hot skillet, flash-fry both sides, an' chow down. If y'haven't done yer work properly, they're almost impossible to chew...but when you get it right, abalone is a real treat to eat! It can also be pounded an' ground, into a wonderful seafood chowder or stew, onna beach, with mussels, misc. clams an' surf fish chunks in a beer/ketchup/wine broth with maybe a can of corn & etc...in a 5 gallon square GI coffee can, over a driftwood fire. Y'eat it outta their empty shells, often with mussel shells as spoons. Ahh, them were th' days!

 

Yep- A guy I went to school with died free diving for abalone.This was 30 years or more years ago.He got lost/or tangled in a bed of bull kelp. Northern California waters are cold and currents can be tricky.
Abalone Harvesting (legal) is now verboten.Of course the a**h***s diving illegally work at night w/ scuba gear.
There's not as much around as there used to because (in addition to poaching):
Ecosystem Collapse:Marine heatwaves and an explosion of purple sea urchins have destroyed over 90% of Northern California's bull kelp forests.
Starvation and Decline: Without healthy kelp to eat, red abalone populations have crashed by up to 96% in counties like Sonoma and Mendocino resulting in-
Fishery Closure:The CA Dept of Fish & Wildlife closed the recreational red abalone fishery through April 1, 2036.
Whit, all I can say in response to your petite gem of reminiscence is-'Argh Me Hearties !"