Wampum World is a coastal jewelry shop rooted in the Atlantic shoreline — and in the hard clam whose purple shell gives the pieces their color: the quahaug, also spelled quahog.

The coast. People live along this Atlantic shoreline today, as communities have for thousands of years. Harbors, tidal flats, and clam beds still shape daily life here — food, trade, and craft from what the water offers. That coast is the backdrop for the jewelry at Wampum World.

The quahaug. The quahaug (Mercenaria mercenaria), also called the hard clam or quahog, lives in sandy and muddy bottoms from the Canadian Maritimes down the American Atlantic coast. Thick shells with a strong purple band on the inner edge are the ones worth saving for jewelry. The purple is not dye; it is the natural color of the shell. Ideal shells with a strong purple band are scarce and worth more money, so every workable fragment matters. The beads and cabochons are difficult to make.

The shell. Jewelry and beads here come from both the purple and the white parts of the quahaug shell — environmentally sound by-products of clam processing operations in the USA after the meat is used. You can make jewelry and beads from the white part as well; the purple part is worth more money. From that shell come beads, cabochons, carved shapes, and finished earrings, pendants, bracelets, and more. White shell from whelk and other coastal mollusks is worked alongside purple; together they are part of the Northeast’s shell tradition known as wampum.