Our Abalone shell is polished and is showing a rainbow of colors and the outside is natural. Although there is a dark spot in the middle where the mollusk was attached. Also, some of the shells may be a rough / chipped around the edges. The outside part of the shell has a crusty cortex. Various shells pictured to show as examples of the different chips in the edges and dark spot in center of shell. The set comes with a tripod that has inner locked legs that have been carved from wood. Natural wood color is tan as showed in the picture. The ceremonial smudge bowl is used as a receptacle for burning smudge sticks such as sweetgrass, sage, incense and cones. It can also be used to hold crystals, jewelry or trinkets, etc The Abalone shell set comes one free sage smudge. The abalone shell is approximately 8 inches.