Not all pearls are lovely beads. (Photo: tanakawho/CC BY 2.0)
The world’s largest pearl may have been discovered in an improbable setting: beneath a fisherman’s bed in the Philippines. For the last 10 years, according to the International Business Times, the fisherman had thought of the lustrous gem as a good luck charm.
The giant, irregularly shaped pearl is said to have been discovered in 2006 near the island of Palawan, when the fisherman’s anchor caught on a large shell during a storm. Working to free his boat, the fisherman dove into the water to pull up the anchor by hand, bringing the shell with him. Inside was the record-breaking pearl.
Apparently unaware of the pearl’s true value, the fisherman simply brought it home and put it under his bed as a good luck talisman.
World's largest #pearl worth 100 mln dollars to be on display in Philippines https://t.co/Tv0gSc5dBZpic.twitter.com/lvNbKaWOK9
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) August 23, 2016
There it sat for a full decade. It was only after a fire forced him to move out of the house that he decided to hand the super-sized pearl over to local officials. The pearl measures a foot wide and over two feet long, and has been estimated to be worth somewhere near $100 million dollars.
Gemologists are being brought in to take a closer look at the pearl, but if it all checks out, it will break the world record for largest pearl about five times over. The current record holder, the Pearl of Lao Tzu, was also found off the coast of Palawan.
For the time being, the pearl is being put on display in the Puerto Princesa City Hall, where people hope it will become a new source of tourism for the Palawan city.