Stingray facts and history

Stingray evolved from sharks more than 200 million years ago.  Like today many people were fascinated by their primitive beauty and grace. Stingrays can swim at amazing speeds and maneuver with incredible dexterity. The stingray's extraordinary durable, multi-patterned and colored skin attracted primitive cultures who believed this power could be transmitted into their lives. The earliest civilizations believed stingray brought strength and power to anyone who handled it. Their backbone, resembling clusters of white pearls, was thought to promote good luck and prosperity.

Egyptian craftsmen prized the beauty and durability of stingray skin and fashioned armor and other decorative items with it. Some of these were discovered in the tombs of ancient pharaohs. It really is forever leather…….

Stingray leather is so strong Han and Shogun Samurai used raw stingray skins for armor and as handles on their Samurai swords. Some reckon stingray leather is 10 x as strong as cow leather. However I have read that some think is it only 2 and half times. Whatever it is very strong and yet light.

Louis XV had stingray leather applied to commodities such as sheaths, wig cases and snuff boxes. For centuries stingray colored skin has been combined with precious metals to make all sorts of decorative and useful objects.

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The English artisan John Paul Cooper took the craft to new heights. From 1899 to 1933 his London studio produced almost 1,000 beautiful artifacts veneered with stingray leather including vases, elaborate boxes, candlesticks and frames.  Examples can be found in many museums and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London has a fine collection. In the 1920’s stingray leather was phenomenally popular and fashionable. Called ‘Shagreen’ it was used to cover furniture even. And why not it is so durable and tough it is the perfect material for any kind of article that is going to take some wear and tear.

Stingray leather

Stingray skin is a byproduct of the fishing industry throughout Southeast Asia. The ray is primarily harvested for food and if not processed the skin would be discarded. The ray is neither an endangered nor threatened species and is a good food source in developing nations. Before the skins of stingray were used for leather goods the fishermen catching them for food dumped the skin as waste but retained a few to use for boat building. The hard surface of these skins in their raw state was a great substitute for sandpaper. Tanning processes make the skins pliable and softer without damaging their durability. A newer process and experimenting with lots of exciting and different colors make stingray a very durable, sought after and beautiful skin.  When polished smooth it has a translucent finish with white dots just beneath the surface.

Stingray skin leather is the most durable natural leather known. The pearl finish is water, scratch, fire and tear resistant. Products made from stingray can be expected to retain their original look and finish almost indefinitely. Unlike other leather wallets, belts and bags stingray products may well last a lifetime and more.

Some people refer to it as ‘Forever Leather’. You can expect your ray leather product to outlast almost any other products that are manufactured from leather or synthetic fabrics. 

 
Genuine Stingray versus Imitation Stingray

Some ways to distinguish genuine stingray from fake:

* Take a lighter to the skin and see if the beads bond, melt or smoke when the flame hits it. If it does it is plastic and not genuine stingray.
* Take a red hot needle to the center of the white pearls. If it punctures through this boney area then it is plastic. You know because plastic cannot resist such high temperatures.
* Take a knife and press down on the beads of the skin. If the knife pushes through the beads of the skin easily and makes little sound then it's fake. Stingray grains are hard to press through and make a louder crunching sound.

There are counterfeit ray skins being manufactured from plastics. Some simple tests to distinguish between the two are:
 
Fire resistance

Genuine stingray skin has a built in resistance to fire. The imitation skin made from plastics will melt after a few seconds. However, do not apply flame to the cowhide border or lining of a ray product or apply flame to genuine ray skin for a prolonged period.
 
Heat resistance

Genuine stingray skin has a built in resistance to heat. If you apply a heated metal tip to the large pearls of imitation skin it will melt after a few seconds. Genuine ray skin will not.
 
Scratch resistance

Genuine stingray skin is highly resistant to scratching. If you rub steel wool against genuine ray skin and there should be minimal noticeable affect. Note: surface colorings will be eroded by such extreme examination. Imitation skin made from plastics will scratch and disfigure rather easily.

Stingray Chic

Stingray skin increasingly adorns everything from shoes to handbags and even tabletops, counting Manolo Blahnik and Salvatore Ferragamo among its users. Known as galuchat by the French and the fashion industry, stingray has a texture all of its own. Jean Paul Gaultier included stingray shoes in a collection and Manolo Blahnik introduced the charcoal gray, pointed-toe "Tucciogalu" pump. Ferragamo's velvet sling-back "Theodore" features chocolate galuchat ornaments. Some designers have been using stingray for a long time. The designer of VBH Luxury, Bruce Hoeksema, has been creating galuchat bags as well as those made from ostrich and python for several years.
We sell the highest quality genuine stingray leather wallets, stingray leather handbags, clutch bags, stingray leather belts, watch bands and stingray leather briefcases.

Scientific information

The Stingray is any of a class of cartilaginous marine animals of the subclass Elasmobranchii, orders Myliobatiformes (rays) or Rajiformes (skates) found in both salt and fresh coastal waters as well as some rivers around the world.

Species of stingray include:

The round ray, Bat Ray (Myliobatis californica), Manta ray, diamond ray, Southern Stingray (Dasyatis americana), Atlantic Stingray (Dasyatis sabina), Yellow Stingray (Urolophus jamaiensis), Blue Spot Stingray (Taeniura lymma), Big Skate (Raja binoculata), butterfly ray (Gymnuridae), Pelagic Stingray (Dasyatis Pteroplatytrygon violacea) and Cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus). There are also freshwater ray species in South America (Potamotrygon Sp.), Asia (Himantura Sp.), Africa, and Florida (Dasyatis sabina).