Fossilized Ivory and Fossil Sand Dollar Sea Turtle Bracelet

This bracelet was designed to capture some of the beauty of the sea and enhance it with ancient materials to create the kind of jewelry that transcends fashion and is uniquely connected to the natural world. Jenny Byrne, Zealandia's lead designer, was born and raised in New Zealand. She counts her formative years and subsequent travels to distant seas as defining influences in her work. Jenny feels a special kinship with the ocean and its creatures—ancient and living.

The sea turtles and starfish are hand carved from fossilized walrus ivory and are decorated with a natural nut brown ink that brings out the carved spiral designs. Our fossilized walrus tusk ivory is some 500 to 3,000 years old, and it has spent much of its life buried underground where minerals color it in varied earthen shades. Native peoples gather this fossilized ivory for sale and trade, and it is valued the world over for the beautiful addition it makes to artisans crafts and art works.

The two fossil sand dollars in this carved ivory bracelet are of Mexican origin and are many millions of years old. Their unique imprints are given to us like gifts carried into the present from ancient times. The sand dollar can be seen as a type of mandala, or spiritual symbol, and it is said to represent self-worth. These ancient sand dollars are polished to bring out the delicate and subtle patterns in each fossil.