Tortoiseshell eyeglasses worked from the carapace of a type of sea turtle.

The inside of the carapace has beautiful black specks on a yellow background, and the material is easy to mould when heat is applied, so it was widely used for many crafts.

However, since tortoiseshell turtles are scarce and only a small portion a carapace can be processed, tortoiseshell crafts were expensive.

Tortoiseshell was used to make a variety of accessories, such as eyeglasses, combs, and beaded strings for the traditional Korean hats known as gat, with eyeglasses being especially popular.

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