This vintage pen knife is quite the conversation opener. These are hand carved antique ivory Pikake flower beads from Hawaii. Baby Pyrite and black Spinel rosary pattern with sterling tubes gives it a delicate feel. The necklace measures approximately 34” to the bottom of the knife.

sssooooo much information below

Pikake Flowers-the back story 

The world was rebuilding after WW11 but it was particularly difficult in Hawaii because of Pearl Harbor.

There was a store that opened in Honolulu, named “Mings of Honolulu” at the time. It was a jewelry store geared toward locals and not on the main drag in Waikiki where the tourists tended to stay.

Pikake flowers are the most fragrant and beautiful flower on the islands and considered the flower of Hawaii, long before flowers were associated with states officially.

Mings of Honolulu had these flowers hand carved in China and imported in the form of jewelry to the islands. Every local woman had to have either an earring, bracelet, necklace or ring made with these flowers. It was a silent symbol that you were local, meaning you got better cuts of meat from the butcher, discounts on baked goods and fruit stands etc.

My mother had every piece of Pikake flower jewelry made. As a result, although being white we were identified as local and it made all the difference in the world in how we were treated.

P.S. My feeling about antique ivory is this. Of course, we don’t want animals killed for their ivory but if it’s antique, I have no problem using it. At the time it was used people didn’t have any consciousness about the ‘politics’ we have now anf there is an innocents in the way they saw things.