The largest known “pearl” in the world

The Pearl of Lao Tzu is the largest known “pearl” in the world. It is not a gem quality pearl, but is instead what is known as the perfect combination for salt and freshwater pearl. It measures 24 centimeter in diameter and weighs 6.4 kilograms (14.1 lb). It is an interesting piece of natural history surrounded by extraordinary stories and legends.

The pearl was found in a giant clam off the coast of Brooke’s Point, Palawan in the Philippines, on 7 May 1934 by a Muslim Filipino diver. Wilburn Cobb, the son of an American mining engineer, got the pearl because he saved Muslim Filipino diver’s daughter-in-raw. .

In 1939, while The Pearl was on display in Robert Ripley’s Museum in New York, an elderly Hong Kong merchant named Mr. Lee had permission to come to the museum to examine The Pearl. He examined the pearl with intense scrutiny, and then tears began flowing from the man’s eyes. When he regained his composure he acknowledged that the jewel was the long-lost Pearl of Lao Tzu that disappeared in a typhoon, it is one of the oldest china pearls.

Mr. Lee told the factual history of The Pearl, heard many times from his elders. He told Mr. Cobb that when his ancient ancestor, Lao Tzu, became very old he was weary of the unceasing evils of mankind, and he resolved to spend his final years far from civilization. As he prepared to depart, he handed to a nephew a small amulet upon which the philosopher had carved representations of the faces of Buddha, Confucius and himself – the historical Three Friends.

It was Lao Tzu’s original mission of creation to find a path and way for peace. He told his nephew to place the amulet securely in a clam and wait four years. Doing as he was told would bring great wealth and fortune to his family, and so it did.

The Li family amassed great fortunes as successful merchants. Lao Tzu, also a naturalist, provided his nephew with a method to prevent the clam’s rejection of such an intrusion. Lao Tzu’s instructions were to start the legendary pearl that would symbolize Lao Tzu’s “WAY” of life. Thus the pearl, containing its sacred amulet, was handed down from generation to generation growing larger and larger as it was transplanted into Tridacna clams of ever increasing size until the pearl reached its present size.

The pearl has engravings and symbols of all three men, opposites in taste but whose purpose united in one symbol to be an example of how to learn to live respectfully and united harmoniously for peace, so The Pearl of Lao Tzu is the most historical pearl among all of the large pearls.

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