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Fisherman Used $100 Million Pearl As A Good Luck Charm

This article is more than 7 years old.

The largest pearl in the world was found 10 years ago by a fisherman who kept it hidden under his bed for good luck. The giant pearl, which weighs 75 pounds and measures 1 foot wide by 2.2 feet long, was found off the coast of Palawan Island.

A local fisherman found the pearl as he was out on his boat during a storm. He attempted to anchor his boat and noticed the anchor got stuck on what appeared to be a rock. After swimming down to pull the anchor free of the rock he realized it was in fact anchored on a giant clam that contained the pearl.

Not realizing the true value of the pearl, the fisherman kept the pearl under his bed for almost 10 years as a good-luck charm before going out on the seas. A recent accidental fire destroyed the fisherman's home, prompting the fisherman to go public with the gem.

The giant pearl is thought to be worth $100 million and is the largest known pearl in the world. The pearl is now on display at the city hall of Puerto Princesa, the local provincial capital as a means to attract tourists to the city.

Previous to this pearl, the largest known pearl was the Pearl of Lao Tzu, which was discovered in the 1930's in the Philippines as well and weighs 14 pounds. The Pearl of Lao Tzu was appraised to be worth tens of millions of dollars and is less than 1/5 the size of the fisherman's pearl.

Pearls form around the world in mollusk bivalves including clams, oysters, and mussels. A pearl forms as a result of an irritant within the bivalve, which causes the organism to secrete a substance known as nacre, a similar substance that forms horns. The pearl forms from the minerals aragonite and calcite, both types of calcium carbonate. Through time, the nacre secretion builds up around the irritant, which can initiate as a grain of sand, and develops a pearl.

Pearls on average grow 0.6 mm per year and only occur in 1 of every 40 oysters, many of which are very small. A rough back of the envelope calculation, given that this giant pearl is 2.2 feet long, means the pearl could have taken over 1,100 years to grow.

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