A New Ginormous clam pearl found- dwarfs the "Pearl of Allah"

[Caitlin]

I got that letter of inquiry. It did not come from the Barbish family. I have been in touch with 2 members of that family since we wrote the original article and one of contacted me. I had a Wikipedia battle with a character called "riptide' on the conversation page of the POA back in 2006-9 whenever-. It turns out I convinced him I was correct and he took down the entire website, which was his job. This latest inquiry had poor English and a hinky description. It was not written by a native English speaker. The Barbish family members are quite proficient in their native language which is English! I do not know what that last inquiry was, but it was not from the Barbish family, directly.

The pearl may be intact, but it has not been seen for decades and that doesn't really jibe with the sales pitch. Why aren't there any new pix since the 60's? They should be displaying it everywhere they can. If it is still intact, the legal struggles for it are so intense- as shares in it been vastly oversold- like that movie "The Producers",- 5 people each own a third of it - it's like all the subscriptions to the Colorado river water, -completely oversold.... so there would be real legal fireworks, should it ever come out in public.

The Barbish family ought to send it back to the Philippines as they will never see one dime for it- the true story is too well known for the pearl to have anywhere near the claimed value. The new generation of Barbishes can simply walk away from the karma of owning it, by returning it to the govt of the Philippines and become clean of the karma because they are decent people who want to do the right thing. I hope they see it this way.

Then maybe everyone with a claim on the PoA could get tax write offs for it or something for donating it. If so, it would be the only money ever seen for that cursed pearl.

To return the Pearl of Allah to Palawan would make the whole story famous again, except the story of the Pearl's exodus will have been completed when the pearl returns. And with it, all the power comes back to Palawan, where it will earn the locals honest tourist dollars, instead of earning thieves, millions.

 

[Caitlin]

This topic is one of my high horses. Sorry to lecture like a librarian. I want the giant tridacna gigas clam to be preserved and conserved. There is nothing else like them in the world and Palawan certainly seems to be an epicenter for old, old clams.

I wish Palawan would sue all the owners of the pearl for its return as it was taken under false pretenses, in the first place. They are all on the internet. Access them directly. Get a hero-lawyer to do it. Sue them. Make the courts make the Barbishes produce the pearl in court.

Palawan, try to get them them to prove I am wrong about it being shattered by the carbon-dating probe. I'd just LOVE to eat crow on this one, but it is the best logical conclusion I can reach for why it has not been on display, with many more photos of celebrities posing with it, etc.

I have this platform, here at P-G and by golly, the PoA is one story that makes me want to utilize my platform to editorialize on this fine forum!!!.

 

[JerseyPearl]

Caitlin, never a need to apologize for a lecture!!! This is incredibly helpful and relevant information that we should all know. We are stewards of our planet, which we share with creatures great and small. I haven't checked the updated pearl course, but I do hope there is a significant section related to this topic! Thank you.

 

[Caitlin]

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I have gotten two contacts for pearls like this This one and another one that looks a like polished shell which is kind of more boxy than this one, But neither is pearl, they are polished shell.

 

[Caitlin]

Caitlin, never a need to apologize for a lecture!!! This is incredibly helpful and relevant information that we should all know. We are stewards of our planet, which we share with creatures great and small. I haven't checked the updated pearl course, but I do hope there is a significant section related to this topic! Thank you.

It is not part of "Pearls 101", yet Maybe it could be a part of "Pearls 201" or a special credit topic. TG shells should also be mentioned as a source of huge, but non-sustainable nuclei. We are not seeing huge beads made out of tridacna gigas shell on ebay as we used to 10 years ago.

It should be mentioned, the tridacna gigas nuclei are notorious for cracking when drilled -the very reason I have questioned whether the PoA did get cracked or shattered when carbon date tested.

Jeremy probably still has the copies of the appraisal done by Lee Sparrow, that mentioned the carbon date testing, supposedly once done on behalf of a SF gem lab. That appraisal also said that the appraised value of the pearl was increased from $3 million to many times that -by adjusting for inflation as there was no other way to judge the current value -than by comparing it to the value in 1939.

I hope every one will use their brains to see why the value of the pearl got so inflated. Every evaluation was merely adjusted for inflation without ever re-examining the pearl, or getting a bunch of scientists to proclaim about it.The first evaluation was made up by the original thief's imagination and advertised at "Ripley's Believe it or not" in NYC- where the pearl was on display during 1939 only and has not been on display, anywhere, ever since.

 

[Orient]

I have gotten two contacts for pearls like this This one and another one that looks a like polished shell which is kind of more boxy than this one, But neither is pearl, they are polished shell.

Hello Caitlin - Just intrigued by your reply which seems to make it a foregone conclusion without having ever seen the pieces. How would you separate the following from an image out of interest:

1) Natural blister pearl?
2) Natural blister?
3) Piece of worked & polished shell?

I am sure others will add their opinions too. I am not trying to create any arguments etc... just genuinely interested in how these three objects would be separated by sight (images) or preferably in person if allowed to examine them. Any ideas?

 

[Caitlin]

Were you the one who sent one? I can't remember without looking back through PMs I may or may not still have.

3)There is a photo on this forum of the boxy piece. It looks cut and tumbled. It has parallel striations. It has to be shell. No T gigas pearl has ever presented without those brain-like convolutions- they are characteristic of the pearls, so a boxy shape can not be a pearl. That is the same piece of shell I got a word about via PM. I would bet is it not a pearl. Pearls do not have parallel striations, they are circular or convoluted. Only chunks of shell have parallel marks.



2) Natural blisters occur quite often in abalone shells. I do not know about any blisters in the T gigas. There could be some, but no one seems interested in showing those, so far.

1) the pearls of Allah and Elias both have connection points.. The Elias pearl is still connected by a stem and the Pearl of Allah has a mark where it broke off a stem so they are blister pearls on stems.

 

[amti]

I love your passion, Caitlin. It is on the right track and good hearted. Don't ever let that fire die.

 

[Elektra]

Hi Caitlin

I just joined the forum to get some advice about taking care of my two pearl necklaces and also how to re-thread a necklace bought in Bangladesh some years ago (to be honest, I am not sure it's actually made of pearls, but that's another story).

I got distracted, however, by the story of the giant clam so-called 'pearls' and have read all the posts on POA etc. I looked at the boxy photo you referred to and am amazed that it's more likely to be polished shell than 'pearl'. How can a shell surface be thick enough?

 

[Orient]

Were you the one who sent one? I can't remember without looking back through PMs I may or may not still have.

Hello Caitlin - Sorry for the belated reply. No I have never been in contact with you outside the forum that I can remember. It was not me. Thank you for your opinions on each type of material mentioned.

 

[Caitlin]

You welcome Orient. What I think we all need to work for is getting recognition for keeping all those pearls and chunks of shell in the Philippines where the species Tridacna gigas is under CITES protection. That means the locals can fish and eat the clams, but not sell them out of the country. It is illegal to take the shells, so I imagine the pearls are illegal to remove as well.

That is OK. The Philippines should really try to get the pearl of Allah back into the country- after all no one has ever really bought or sold it yet- only passed it along "on memo". Then everyone should celebrate the local finds and make them part of the tourist economy and enrich all who live there a little bit. These pearls were not meant to enrich just one person, especially a foreigner. They are a magical and spiritual part of Palawan and worthless anywhere else. As time has proven. Do your research if you still think they are worth money to non-Filipinos.