Bill seeks to protect cachet of Ni'ihau shells

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Ni'ihau shell jewelry, the treasure of that remote private island that can command thousands of dollars, will gain a measure of state protection if a bill passed by legislators is signed into law.

Ni'ihau shell jewelry can sell for more than $500 a strand. Photo courtesy of Pam KaÎilikini Dow

But the protection is limited because the state Department of Agriculture can't possibly inspect every piece marketed as Ni'ihau shells and will investigate only when consumers report that they've bought something wrongly labeled.

"We're not going to go out and actively enforce it," said Sam Camp, who heads the department's quality assurance division. "We have to do it on a complaint basis."

Even then, he said, all the state can do is to demand that vendors in question turn over their "paper trail" — whatever documentation they have demonstrating that the shells making up the jewelry are, as labeled, harvested from Ni'ihau.

There are some who insist that it is, including the lawmaker who introduced the bill, state Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu, D-41st (Waipahu, Village Park, Waikele).

Karamatsu, who sells Hawai'i products other than shell jewelry via the Internet, said a friend with her own Web business told him that there were vendors marketing jewelry as "Ni'ihau shells" when the materials came from elsewhere.

"We just brainstormed: What's a good way to keep the market value (of the lei) strong, as well as keeping customers from being misled?" he said.

Pam Ka'ilikini Dow, owner of the Kekaha gift store Forever Kaua'i and a specialist in the Ni'ihau-made items, agrees that misleading labels are a problem.

Dow and four Ni'ihau shell lei makers are appearing at a series of free "authentication" sessions this week on O'ahu, where jewelry owners can bring their items and receive confirmation of its origin on Ni'ihau (see box).

Dave Camp, a Kaua'i vendor, maintains that bogus claims are made. Camp makes jewelry using shells from Kaua'i's north shore, labels them as such and sells them for roughly half the going rate of Ni'ihau jewelry, which can sell for upwards of $500 per strand.

Camp, who is not related to state agriculture official Sam Camp, added that he's seen competitors hawking their own homegrown product as Ni'ihau shells, which generally have a finer, glossier surface than those harvested on Kaua'i.

"It's good that they have this bill," he said. "I've felt bad for the Ni'ihau ladies that string it over there."

Russell Pang, a spokesman for Gov. Linda Lingle, said the measure, HB 2569, is among of a pile of bills the governor is reviewing. Pang said he didn't know whether Lingle has a position on the Ni'ihau measure.

Complicating everything is the fact that it's difficult for the untrained eye to differentiate a Ni'ihau shell from others. The species of tiny mollusks that produce the shells used most commonly in lei and jewelry make their home near beaches throughout Hawai'i and even elsewhere in the Pacific, said Linda Moriarty, author of the 1986 book "Ni'ihau Shell Leis."

"Those shells have a Pacific distribution," Moriarty said. " 'Ni'ihau shells' is a term, really, that evolved over years."

Alison Kay, a Kaua'i-born zoologist and shell authority, said the species are identified by the scientific names Leptothyra verruca and Euplica varians (better known here by their respective shell names — the tiny, valuable kahelelani and the larger momi variety).

There's no biological reason why the shells on Ni'ihau would be glossy, Kay said, other than that the beaches there are far less crowded, leaving more time for the shells to be polished in the surf.

"It's just that they're kind of numerous there, I would think," she added. "There are far fewer people picking shells on a Ni'ihau beach."

Still, observers maintain that the romance of a craft most closely associated with a privately owned island and developed by people whose first language is Hawaiian has over time given the term "Ni'ihau shells" a special cachet.

A Ni'ihau kahelelani lei can sell for $5,000 or more, she said, and most people who spend top dollar for a Ni'ihau shell lei or even a small pair of earrings assume that they come from the island.

"I'm interested in preserving the art as it evolved out of Ni'ihau," she said.

Dow, the Kekaha gift store owner, is a lifelong Kaua'i resident who said she's pursued an interest in the Ni'ihau lei art since her mother brought one home after a visit to the island in 1958.

She said it's impossible to say how many legitimate Ni'ihau lei are produced in an average year because the cottage industry fluctuates radically: The crafters might go long periods without making anything and then produce one if there is a family need for income, she said.

Sometimes the crafters will leave their home — to receive medical treatment on Kaua'i, for example — and bring shells to string and sell, Dow said.

Dave Camp said the traditional craft may be endangered because fewer young Ni'ihauans seem to be learning the skill.

"The children aren't into it," he said. "They're not growing up to be into it anymore."

Brenda Reichel, who points to various appraisal credentials for her Honolulu-based business, said she's not aware of any fraud problem but said a lei owner is hard pressed to get someone to set a reasonable value on their treasure. Either they're unfamiliar with the jewelry craft or they don't have appraisal training, she said.

"The problem is that other appraisers don't know what they are," said Reichel, whose record appraisal for a three-strand kahelelani was about $5,500.

Not that this matters much to many kama'aina who own a coveted necklace. The septuagenarian Kay still treasures the multistrand lei from Ni'ihau she wore at her graduation from Punahou School.

Does she care what it's worth?

"No," she said simply, "because it's mine. And I love it."

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.