How can you tell the difference? When I was there the market was a interesting place to go--probably not all booths there native to Hawaii. I purchased several items in bulk to give away when I got home. It's amazing to me that after all of these years I am still finding pieces. I would love to travel to Hawaii again it was so beautiful.
Because I have a real puka shell necklace. The real shells are round and a puka in the middle already(hence the name puka shell) and it has a slight purpelish color in the middle of the shell where the puka is and trust me the real ones are 5x more expensive then the one you had bought. I was kinda fortunate because i got to make my own necklace and it wasn't easy finding the shells. If you have time you should google it