Is this mother of pearl found it 4 feet deep, found at house built in the 1800s.

Oct 2, 2012
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Cabella's
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That is half of a bi-valve. The inside would be mother of pearl, albeit lower grade.
 

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Mother of pearl can come from a variety of mollusks including but not limited to a variety of oyster, abalone and clams.
 

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This is Abalone shell, what I normally have known as Mother of pearl,download (1).jpgdownload.jpg your shell is oyster. Although oysters make pearls the abalone shell is where mother of pearl comes from.
 

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Actually mother of pearl is actually called "Nacre"...
Which is found in many bi valve shells...
There are different "Nacre" from each one.
 

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Actually mother of pearl is actually called "Nacre"...
Which is found in many bi valve shells...
There are different "Nacre" from each one.

Being from California the abalone is what I'm familiar with although I don't dispute there are other shells they get mother of pearl from.
 

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Most of what we know as "mother of pearl" comes from Pacific pearl oysters. It is what you see on knife handles fairly often. Abalone is another type of nacre, but it is softer and more easily abraded than the Pacific pearl oyster MOP. Our east coast American oysters do not produce MOP in any quality or useable size and thickness.
 

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I often find portions of shells, halves or whole shells of Tennessee Fresh Water Oysters (a freshwater Mussel) when I hunt on a Lake near me and they have "Mother of Pearl" inside. The location is adjacent to the main channel flow from the river. The longer that the shells are out in the elements after the mollusc dies, then the shells and Mother of Pearl on the inside, degrade quite rapidly.


Frank
 

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