An enormous pearl that may possibly be the largest one in existence has been found in the Philippines.
The pearl measures one-foot-wide, 2.2 feet long, and weighs 74.9 pounds, or 34 kilograms. To put it into perspective, that is about the weight of an average 11-year-old boy. The new discovery dwarfs the pearl found in 2014, previously considered the largest on Earth.
That pearl weighed in at 54.4 pounds, or 24.7 kilos. Both were found in Palawan, an island paradise known for its pristine beaches, turquoise waters, mysterious shipwrecks and, of course, its pearls. An island province, the area is teeming with marine life. In fact, there is so much that a full 45% of the seafood consumed in and around Manila, the country’s capital, is sourced from there.Ironically, an unidentified poor fisherman had kept the prize as a sort of good luck charm underneath his bed for over ten years.
He accidentally happened upon the pearl when his anchor became lodged in a giant clam shell during a violent storm. Only after deciding to move into a different home did he finally haul the pearl over to the tourism office in Puerto Princesa, which serves as Palawan’s government seat.
While the full value of the pearl is still unknown, it is likely worth many millions of dollars.Officials there are currently attempting to have it authenticated and appraised. They are also offering scientists access to it. The pearl is currently on display in Puerto Princesa’s City Hall.
An angler in the Philippines may have found the biggest natural pearl ever discovered– and after that kept it concealed under his bed for ten years.
The pearl’s presence was exposed by Aileen Cynthia Maggay-Amurao, a tourist officer in Puerto Princesa, on the island of Palawan.
She states the angler is among her loved ones which he found it in a huge clam and kept it as a good-luck beauty.
When he was vacating his house, he chose to offer the pearl to Maggay-Amurao for safekeeping rather of transferring it with him– “considering that it’s rather heavy,” she informed The Guardian.
In reality, the pearl weighs in at 34 kgs, Maggay-Amurao states– or around 75 pounds.
It’s more than 2 feet long and 1 foot broad.
That would make it by far the biggest natural pearl ever discovered in a huge clam. The existing world record is held by another pearl discovered off the coast of Palawan– “The Pearl of Allah” or “Pearl of Lao Tzu,” which was found in the ’30s and cost a scuba diver’s life to obtain.
That pearl, which the Guardian states was valued at $93 million in 2003, weighs 14 pounds– a portion of the size of the freshly exposed pearl.
The 75-pound pearl is now on screen in the municipal government of Puerto Princesa; the city government has actually called it the “Pearl of Puerto.”
Maggay-Amurao, who states she encouraged her relative to show the pearl rather of concealing it, has actually required gemologists to go to Puerto Princesa to analyze the pearl for credibility and a price quote of its worth.
A representative for the Puerto Princesa federal government states the angler who discovered the pearl hasn’t signed it over to the city, Agence France-Presse reports. “It stays his residential or commercial property,” the spokesperson states, validating that the guy might be in for an amazing windfall.
For the record, a 75-pound pearl would be 170,000 carats.
