How to recognize the eye of Saint Lucia and the eye of Shiva?

Given the success of the eye of Saint Lucia (rare), many jewels are offered for sale with lids from the warm seas, much cheaper. Since the name is not protected, nothing prevents it from being used to also designate the lids of the warm seas, called the eye of Shiva.

Because of their similarity it is easy to confuse them.

The eye of Saint Lucia

The operculum of the shell has in this case a white face and a bright coral orange face. The orange side is reminiscent of an ear. The white face symbol of the Eye of Holy Lucie when polished, presents an orange spiral of the same color as its other face. Oval in shape, its maximum size is 25 to 30 mm. Its thickness is about 5 mm.

You should know that the Turbo that grows changes lid when it is no longer its size. He gets rid of it to make a new bigger one. This operculum thrown by the Turbo Rough, it is found on the beaches during storms.

Stirred by water and sand, it has lost its orange pigmentation and its color varies more towards light to dark brown.
The white face reveals a brown spiral.

Shiva's eye

Its value is less: for the price of a single eye from Saint Lucia in the Mediterranean, it will be possible to obtain 1 kg of cappings in the Philippines. Imported from Asia in finished jewelry, it is then called "Eye of Saint Lucia", the name not being protected. This is the main reason why it is found in large numbers in many shops.

It is rather round in shape, its size varies from 10 mm to 100 mm, and depending on the species of shellfish that produce it, it can have different colors.

Possessing a white face with a spiral resembling the Eye of Saint Lucia and a colored face that can be dark brown to pale orange, or with dark blue to green nuances. It is very thick, making several centimeters for large lids. The colored face is very rounded and does not have the shape of an ear like that of the Mediterranean.

Shiva's eye is often mounted on a closed jewel, so it is impossible to see the colored face, which makes it difficult to assess. In this case it will be necessary to pay attention to the color of the spiral on the white face of the operculum. This is always the same color as the colored side and will tell you where the seal comes from.

After reading this article, you are able to recognize the real Saint Lucia eye from the one actually called Shiva eye and some shops wrongly sell you as Saint Lucia eye.

On the oussia.com store, you will find real eye of Saint Lucia jewelery and necklaces with the eye of Shiva .