Pacific Jewels can ground and polish your paua shell for you.

This service is available only at our Factory Shop in Kaikōura.

If you have a raw paua shell that you would like to have ground, polished or lacquered our skilled craftsmen can do the hard work for you.

You can have the shell fully ground or half ground like our Spiral Shell. Additionally, you can choose to have the shell lacquered or hand polished. The lacquered shell produces the shiniest finish; however, it requires more time to complete the shell as we only lacquer shells approximately once a week (or longer in winter). 

There is a fee of $7.00 per shell regardless of which options you choose or the size of the shell.

Please note that the quality of paua shell can vary greatly from one shell to the next. Some are very thin, while others are thick. Some can be very pale in colour, and some very rich in colour. Some can also have disease (brown bubbly patches) in the shell which will create in hole if ground over. So the overall quality of the finished product is determined by the quality of the shell to start with.

Our craftsmen take the utmost care when grinding your shell and try to get the best out of each shell, however even the best craftsmen cannot always produce the perfect result every time especially with very poor quality shell. Therefore, the grinding of your shell is considered to be undertaken at your risk (of damage to the shell) and the grinding fee will still be applicable in the event of a small hole or crack forming in the shell.

We will advise you in the case where we consider a shell too risky to grind so you can decide whether or not we should grind it.

 Requirements to order 

Please make sure all shell is clean and dry

Bring in or send your shell to: Pacific Jewels/Southern Paua at 2 Beach Road, Kaikoura 7300

Please leave your details with your order. Name, Phone number, Email, Address & Option chosen for shell

Payment is required before order is started. An invoice will be sent to your email or payment on drop off 

We will get in touch with you when your order is ready. All Tracking numbers will be sent via email on dispatch