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KeyserXSoze

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http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB0JUYNJ4E.html
'It's Been Terrible' - Giant Pearl Tied to Death, Family Squabbles

By Jon Sarche Associated Press Writer
Published: Jan 29, 2005

DENVER (AP) - Legend has it the so-called Pearl of Allah was created as a symbol of peace 2,500 years ago in ancient China. To Victor Barbish, the 14-pound gem has been nothing but a big headache.
The football-sized grayish lump has been tied to enough greed, drama and intrigue to rival any Agatha Christie mystery, including two contract killings and a court fight that ended with one of the largest jury awards of its type in Colorado history.

"It draws the wrong type of people," said Barbish, the pearl's majority owner who lives in Colorado Springs. "It's only a pearl. It has a nice history. It was made to do something good, apparently, but what it's been drawing, it's been terrible."

Barbish says he kept the pearl in a Denver bank vault and a series of safe deposit boxes over the years, but he won't disclose its present location, even though he'd like to unload the gem to a museum or library.

How the pearl wound up in Colorado is quite a tale - an extraordinary one, if the rumors are to be believed. It is purportedly a former amulet of Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu, who is said to have carved his face and those of Confucius and Buddha into its surface. It was then planted in successively larger clams for generations; the convolutions on its surface resemble a human brain.

According to legend, the pearl was lost in a shipwreck centuries ago, then found in 1934 off Palawan Island in the Philippines by a diver who drowned when he reached into a huge clam to take it. The clam and the diver were pulled to shore and the island's chief, a Muslim who named the pearl, took possession.

About five years later, Wilburn Dowell Cobb saved the life of the chief's son and was given the pearl in gratitude. Cobb's heirs sold it in 1980 for $200,000 to Beverly Hills jeweler Peter Hoffman, who in turn sold part ownership to Barbish.

The two men formed the now-defunct World's Largest Pearl Co. Inc. in California and raised money by selling interests in the pearl to investors including Joe Bonicelli.

This is where the history turns bloody.

The pearl is now part of the largest wrongful-death judgment in Colorado history after a jury recently awarded $32.4 million to Bonicelli's adult children, who sued over the 1975 death of their mother in a contract killing.

After Bonicelli's death in 1998, police said they determined that the decades-old killing was done at his behest.

His children want the pearl sold so they can be paid the settlement they won against their father's estate. They plan to use the money to establish a foundation in their mother's name to help abused women and children, said their lawyer, Richard Tegtmeier.

Bonicelli left his estate to his youngest daughter, whom he fathered with his second wife. Neither her attorney nor Phillips' attorney returned calls.

Appraisers have valued the pearl at up to $60 million, Tegtmeier said.

He said further court action will be necessary to determine how his clients will receive their money - but it will have to include selling the pearl.

Barbish just wants to be rid of it, but on his terms.

"We are donating that pearl," he said. "We don't want the money for it. We want it to go to a charity for everybody to see and view, either a museum or a presidential library."
 
According to this story Osama Bin Laden tried to buy it to bribe Saddam Hussein.....

Pearl of Allah
 
Biggest pearl EVER worth £76million was found by fisherman who kept it as good luck charm

The man, who has not been identified, discovered the priceless 34kg gem ten years ago in sea off the coast of Palawan Island, Philippines.

He had no idea the pearl, which is five times larger than the previous record, was worth an eye-watering value of $100 million (£76million).

A fire at his wooden home earlier this year forced him to move house and he decided to have it in to the stunned local tourism officer in remote Puerto Princesca.

They were able to verify that it had been found in a giant clam.

The priceless rock measures a staggering 1ft foot wide and 2.2 feet long - dwarfing the current world's biggest Pearl of Allah which weighed 6.4kg and is worth $35million.
 
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This thread has only been dormant for 13 years - time to give it a boost.

"The Atlantic" has unraveled the whole story - including the Bin Laden thing:

Bits of the legend are true. The pearl really was discovered when a diver drowned; Cobb really did acquire it from the local chief; and gazing at the pearl, you really can discern the face of a turbaned man. The rest is a fantasy Cobb invented.

In the dry hills of Union City, California, I met his daughter Ruth Cobb Hill. Born in the Philippines, she is now 85 years old, a retired clinical psychologist. Facing her wall of artifacts—pottery, bracelets, and necklaces dating back to the Song dynasty (a.d. 960–1279)—she began excavating the pearl from its foundational myth.

It's a great tale. Even if parts of it are pure fiction, the truth is just amazing.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-pearl-of-lao-tzu/559109/
 
A New Jersey man found a substantial pearl in one of his clams at a seafood restaurant.
New Jersey man finds large pearl in his clam at popular restaurant

A New Jersey man dining out with his wife at one of the couple's favorite restaurants made a surprising discovery inside a raw clam -- a large pearl that could be worth thousands of dollars.

Michael and Maria Spressler said they were dining at The Lobster House in Cape May recently when Michael ate the last of his dozen clams on the half shell and felt something hard in his mouth.

"I thought one of my molars cracked," Michael Spressler told NJ.com.

The couple said they were shocked when Michael spat out the .35-inch pearl.

"He's eaten dozens and dozens of clams, and we've never found anything like that, so it was pretty exciting," Maria Spressler told KYW-TV. ...

The Spresslers said their research indicates the pearl could be worth thousands of dollars, but they've decided to keep it for themselves. ...
SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/0...ape-May-New-Jersey-large-pearl/6081646078928/
 
A diner at a Delaware seafood restaurant discovered a rare purple pearl in one of his clams.
Man finds rare purple pearl in his clam at Delaware restaurant

A Pennsylvania man eating with his family at a Delaware restaurant made a surprising discovery inside of a clam: a purple pearl.

Scott Overland of Phoenixville was eating at the Salt Air restaurant in Rehoboth Beach with his wife and children when the discovery was made inside a northern quahog clam. ...

"At first my wife thought it was, like, a bead, or one of those -- it looked like one of those 'Dot' candies on the paper," Overland told WCAU-TV. ...

"We had never heard of a pearl in a clam. I always thought they came in oysters," Overland told Delaware Online.

Ballard Clams and Oysters spokesman Tim Parsons said both oysters and clams are known to produce pearls. He said he hears of diners making similar discoveries two or three times a year.

"Usually, it's over a dentist claim," he joked. "But you can definitely get it graded and they are worth money." ...
FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/08/17/pearl-clam-Salt-Air-Rehoboth-Beach-Delaware/1291660767300/
 
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