Honu jewelry: meaning, styles and what to look for

Honu jewelry shows the honu, the Hawaiian green sea turtle, most often as a cut-out pendant or as a turtle engraved into a ring or bracelet. It is usually given for long life, endurance and a safe return, ideas that come from the turtle’s long life and the great distances it travels. For some Hawaiian families the honu is also an ʻaumakua, a family guardian, but that is a family’s own relationship rather than a meaning any wearer can claim.

The honu in Hawaiʻi

Honu graze on limu (seaweed) along the reefs of the main islands and often haul out to rest on beaches. Almost all of them nest far to the northwest, at Lalo (French Frigate Shoals) in Papahānaumokuākea, and make the long swim between their feeding grounds and that atoll to breed. NOAA has reported that about 96 percent of Hawaiʻi’s nesting honu use Lalo. The Hawaiian population is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act and is protected under state law, so touching, feeding or harassing honu is against the law.

What the honu means

The honu appears in the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant, among the sea creatures born in its early eras. Writers on Hawaiian culture commonly connect the turtle with long life, the ocean and navigation, and some tell of honu guiding voyagers to the islands. These readings are widely repeated, and we present them as what people usually mean when they give honu jewelry, not as fixed doctrine.

ʻAumakua (plural ʻaumākua) are ancestral guardians who can take animal forms, and the honu is one of the forms some families honour. That relationship is passed down within a family. If the honu is your family’s ʻaumakua, you will know it already. If not, honu jewelry is still a good way to honour the turtle and the sea, and that is how we describe ours.

Common styles

• Cut-out pendants and charms. A turtle silhouette cut from sheet, with the shell engraved in a pattern of plates and the flippers spread as if swimming. This is the most common honu piece.
• Inlaid shells. The turtle’s shell filled with mother-of-pearl, abalone, koa or enamel.
• Engraved bands. A single honu across the front of a ring or bracelet, framed by scroll, or small honu repeated around the band.
• Earrings and studs. Small cut-out turtles, often in pairs facing each other.

Gold pieces are usually 14k in yellow, white or rose. Silver pieces are sterling (925).

What to look for when buying

No real turtle shell. Older “tortoiseshell” jewelry was made from hawksbill turtle shell. Selling sea turtle parts is prohibited under federal law and under Hawaiʻi’s 2016 wildlife trade law, Act 125, apart from narrow exceptions. A new honu piece should be metal, or set with materials such as mother-of-pearl, koa or resin, and the seller should say which.

Detail at small sizes. A honu has a head, four flippers and a patterned shell. On a small pendant or a narrow ring, check that the flippers and shell still read clearly. Cast pieces often lose this detail; hand-engraved ones keep crisp lines.

Hand or machine engraving. Hand-cut lines are bright and faceted and vary a little from piece to piece. Machine and laser engraving is usually shallower and perfectly even.

Solid or hollow, and weight. Ask whether the piece is solid and what it weighs in grams. A hollow honu dents easily and cannot be re-engraved.

Karat stamps. Look for 14K or 585, 10K or 417, 18K or 750, or 925 for sterling. GP, GF and HGE mean plated or gold filled.

The bail. On a pendant, the loop the chain passes through should be soldered closed and thick enough not to wear through.

Made in Hawaiʻi or imported. Under Hawaiʻi law, “made in Hawaii” requires at least 51 percent of the wholesale value to be added in the state. Ask where the piece was made and engraved.

Our guide to Hawaiian jewelry prices explains how these choices affect cost.

Care

Wash solid gold in warm water with a little mild dish soap, brush gently with a soft toothbrush, rinse and dry. Take honu jewelry off before swimming in pools or hot tubs; chlorine is hard on gold alloys, and salt water and sand dull a polished finish. Pieces with shell, koa or enamel inlay should not go in an ultrasonic cleaner.

How we make honu

We cut honu by hand on our Heirloom Pendant, Heirloom Scroll Ring and Heirloom Scroll Bracelet, each made to order in solid 14k yellow, white or rose gold. Before we start, we send you a proof with your size, metal, motif and engraving so you can check every detail. The engraving guide shows what you can add on the back or inside, and our guide to Hawaiian jewelry symbols and meanings compares honu with the other motifs.