Origin of name
The Pearl of Allah
The Pearl of Allah, variously known as Pearl of Lao Tzu and Pearl of Lao Tse
gets its name from its rather odd shape, which looked like a turbaned and
bearded man, which the founders of the massive calcareous pearl in 1934 from
the Island of Palawan in the Philippines, being Muslims, believed to be a
representation of the Holy Prophet Muhammad himself, and therefore decided
to name it the "Pearl of Allah." The miraculous pearl was actually
discovered by a young Muslim pearl diver, who in his enthusiasm tried to
retrieve the pearl from inside the open giant clam, Tridacna gigas,
and in so doing his hands were caught in the cockles of the mighty mollusk,
and met his untimely death. Subsequently, the diver's body and the giant
clam were brought out of the water by his colleagues, and when the clam was
pried open to release the hand of the unfortunate victim, the significant
discovery was made. The chief of the native Dayaks, whose young
pearl divers discovered the pearl off the coast of Palawan, at the
expense of the life of one of their colleagues, believed
that the discovery of the miraculous pearl was a blessing and mercy from God Almighty himself on the
people of Palawan, and hence be named the "Pearl of Allah" being a gift by
the Almighty to the people of Palawan. The story of the discovery of the
pearl in Palawan was based on an article published in the November 1939
issue of the American Museum of Natural History's magazine, "Natural
History" by Wilburn Cobb, who after several unsuccessful attempts in
acquiring the pearl from the Dayak chief, was finally presented with the
priceless piece of natural history, after he was able to save the life of
the Chief's son from certain death, having contracted malaria, the scourge
that devastated tropical lands in the 1930s and 1940s.
Front view of the Pearl of Allah
The Pearl of Lao Tzu / Pearl of Lao Tse
The alternative name "Pearl of Lao Tzu" or "Pearl of Lao Tse" came to be
applied to this odd shaped pearl only after the year 1969, when in the
February 1969 issue of the Mensa Bulletin, Wilburn Cobb wrote another story
associated with the origin of the unique pearl, in which he stated that one Mr. Lee
from China appeared at an exhibition of the pearl at Ripley's Museum in
1939, and claimed that the pearl was the lost pearl of Lao Tzu (Lao Tse),
based on an ancient Chinese legend. According to this legend the pearl was
actually cultured inside a clam by human intervention 2,500 years ago. Just
before his death Lao Tzu the founder of Taoism who lived in the 6th century
B.C. instructed one of his disciples to implant a jade amulet, engraved with
the faces of the Buddha, Confucius and himself, in a giant clam, which would
serve as a nucleus for a cultured pearl, which would be symbolic for the
co-existence of the followers of three great sages with different views. The
clam was to be left undisturbed for 4 years, and by so doing peace and
harmony was to be ushered in to the world. However, as the Pearl grew larger
in size it was transferred into bigger and bigger clams that could
accommodate the growing pearl. The pearl eventually came into the possession
of Lee the ancestor of the present claimant and a direct descendant of Lao
Tzu. It also became a symbol of sovereignty and power and wars were fought
over it's possession. Finally the Lee family decided to hide the pearl by
shipping it to Palawan in the year 1750, still inside its clam, and on its way was lost in a
storm off the island of Palawan, where it was discovered by the Muslim diver
in 1934. Wilburn Cobb further claimed in his article that the Mr. Lee
offered $3.5 million for the pearl but he declined the offer. Mr. Lee then
left Ripley's and was never seen again.
Rear view of the Pearl of Allah
Side view of the Pearl of Allah
Characteristics of the Pearl
Examination of the pearl by the Curator of
Living Invertebrates at the AMNH
Wilburn Cobb took the giant pearl with him to the United States in 1939, and
carried it to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, for
examination and authentication by Roy Waldo Miner, the Curator of Living
Invertebrates at the museum. After careful examination Miner authenticated
the pearl as a genuine non-nacreous Tridacna pearl. He gave the weight of the pearl as
14.1 pounds (6.1 kg) and its length as 9.45 inches. Miner also mentioned in
his report that as growth rates of giant clams were not known he was not
able to give an estimate of its age. However, unlike true pearls which had
regular shapes such as spherical, oval and drop-shape, this giant pearl was
highly irregular, with convoluted surfaces, much like the brain
tissue of a mammal, and had a matte, porcelain like surface, devoid of the
iridescence of true pearls.
The pearl was subsequently put on display at the Ripley's believe it or not
auditorium in New York City. The pearl was said to be the world's largest
known pearl, and a value of $3.5 million was posted as its apprised value at
the Ripley's Museum show.
The Pearl of Allah is a
non-nacreous pearl
From a biological perspective the massive irregular shaped calcareous object can be
considered as a kind of pearl, being a natural product of a shelled mollusk,
the giant clam, Tridacna gigas. However from a gemological point of
view, the giant pearl is considered as a non-nacreous pearl, lacking the
iridescence of true pearls originating from pearl oysters and mussels. All
species of bivalve mollusks are capable of producing pearls, but only a few
can secrete a nacreous coating that has the attractive pearly luster of gem
pearl. Only those pearls that have the luster and iridescence caused by
nacre are referred to as "true pearls."
Unlike bivalved mollusks that produce nacreous pearls, the interior of the
giant clam Tridacna gigas does not have the "mother of pearl" or nacre.
Instead the inner shell layer is porcellaneous. Hence pearls produced by the
giant clam are also porcellaneous, having the matte appearance of porcelain,
lacking any iridescent effects. Given the enormous sizes of giant clams, non-nacreous pearls
could grow to extraordinary sizes within the clams, like the
"Pearl of Allah." Other species of Mollusks that produce non-nacreous pearls
are the queen conch sea snail of the Caribbean, the horse conch Pleurocopa
gigantea, the Melo melo shell fish found in the seas around China, Thailand
and Vietnam, and the North Atlantic clam Mercienaria mercienaria.
What is Nacre ?
Nacre also known as "mother of pearl" is an organic-inorganic
composite material produced continuously by some mollusks (bivalves,
gastropods and cephalopods) as an inner shell layer, that coats the inner
surface of the shells, and secreted by the epithelial cells of the mantle
tissue. The organic part of nacre is composed of a scleroprotein known as
conchiolin and elastic biopolymers such as chitin and lustrin. The inorganic
part of nacre is composed of calcium carbonate in the form of hexagonal
platelets of aragonite or calcite (both crystalline forms of calcium carbonate), having a width of
10-20 µm and a thickness of 0.5
µm. The aragonite platelets are arranged in
continuous parallel lamina and are separated by sheets of organic matrix
composed of conchiolin and elastic bipolymers. The combination of
platelets and elastic biopolymers makes the material strong and resilient.
What causes the
iridescence of nacre ?
The iridescence of nacre is caused by the thickness of the aragonite
platelets which is comparable to the wavelength of visible light, resulting
in constructive and destructive interference of different wavelengths of
light falling on it, causing different colors of light to be reflected at different
viewing angles, producing the iridescent effect.
How is a nacreous pearl produced ?
Pearls are produced inside the shells of certain bivalved mollusks, such as
several species of clams, oysters and mussels. The layer of nacre that is
produced continuously as an inner shell layer by these bivalved mollusks not
only smoothens the internal wall of the shell, but also acts as a defense
against parasitic organisms and damaging debris and waste material. When a
mollusk is invaded by a parasite or irritated by a foreign object, which
lodges in the outer tissue (mantle) of the organism, or between the outer
tissue and the shell, a process known as encystation takes place, in which
the parasite or the foreign object is surrounded by the secretion of
concentric layers of nacre, leading to the formation of a blister pearl if
formed between the mantle and the shell, or a free pearl if formed within
the tissues of the mantle. Thus a pearl is actually formed by a bivalve
mollusk as a defensive response to an irritant.
Common species of bivalves that produce pearls are the pearl oysters, found
in warm and tropical seas, mainly in Asia, and freshwater pearl mussels,
which live in rivers of the United States, Europe and Asia. The rate of
deposition of nacre is very slow, but in most species its about 0.6mm per
year. Moreover, pearls do not form in every pearl oyster. Their probability
of occurrence is only about one in every 40 pearl oysters. The average life
span of a Persian Gulf pearl oyster is about 3 to 11 years. These
statistics indicate that natural pearls are quite rare in occurrence, and
that natural pearls of large size are extremely rare indeed.
How is a non-nacreous pearl produced ?
A non-nacreous pearl is also produced essentially in the same way as a
nacreous pearl, and is the end result of a defensive response to an
irritant, such as a parasite or a foreign object. The only difference is
that the species of Mollusk that produces the pearl does not secrete the
iridescent nacre characteristic of nacreous pearls, but instead a substance
that is chemically identical to nacre, consisting of a mixture of aragonite
and calcite, which are crystalline forms of calcium carbonate, and the
scleroprotein conchiolin, and the bipolymers chitin and lustrin. Unlike in
nacre, aragonite does not from hexagonal platelets with the required
thickness comparable to the wavelength of visible light. Instead in
non-nacreous pearls aragonite is deposited as needles which does not cause
the scattering of light as the hexagonal platelets. Thus the
organic-inorganic material that produces the pearl is not iridescent, but
still has the luster of porcelain and is said to be porcellaneous.
The History of the Pearl after Wilburn Cobb
The world's largest natural pearl remained with its owner Wilburn Cobb until
his death in 1980. Attempts made by Cobb to get a reasonable price for his
rare natural treasure since he acquired it 1939, proved futile during his
life time. The price tag of $3.5 million dollars placed by Cobb in 1939 at
the Ripley's Museum show in New York City, and the story of the Chinese
legend associated with the pearl and the claim that one Mr. Lee a descendant
of Lao Tzu offered $3.5 million for it, a claim that was revealed only 30
years after it was first made in 1939, was according to his critics a
deliberate attempt by Wilburn Cobb to increase the value of his rare
treasure by giving it a historical provenance dating back to 2,400 years.
After his death in 1980, when his estate was sold, the giant "Pearl of
Allah" was purchased by Peter Hoffmann and Victor Barbish for $ 200,000. In
spite of its celebrated status as the largest natural pearl in the world,
this was the highest price ever realized by the pearl that has gone down on
record. However, according to a Colorado Springs gemologist Michael Steenrod,
the fact that Peter Hoffmann and Victor Barbish purchased the pearl for only
$200,000 was a matter of luck and a fluke, as the heirs of Wilburn Cobb
would have decided to let it go for such a ridiculously low figure, perhaps
because during 40 years of the pearl's ownership by Wilburn Cobb it was
never able to realize a price as high as $200,000.
Staggering appraisals for the value of the
pearl
During his life time Wilburn Cobb estimated the value of the pearl to be
around $3.5 million. In fact in an introduction to an article which he wrote
in the February 1969 issue of the "Mensa Bulletin" he stated that if Mensa
could broker a sale for $3.5 million, it would get a much needed injection
of funds in the form of a finder's fee worth 5%, which works out to
$175,000.
In the year 1982, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the
world's largest natural pearl was valued at $40 million to $42 million, by
Lee Sparrow of San Francisco Gem Laboratory. According to this appraisal the
pearl had been subject to carbon dating previously and was found to be
approximately 600 years old. The date of the test and the laboratory where
the carbon dating was done are however not provided. In any case the age of
600 years which appears to be a reasonable finding for a pearl produced by a
giant clam, immediately contradicts the Lao Tzu version of its origin,
according to which the pearl is 2,400 years old.
Michael Steenrod, a Colorado Springs gemologist, on a request by the
Colorado courts appraised the value of the pearl at $60 million in the year
2005, based on the 1982 appraisal of Lee Sparrow, after the pearl was
involved in a court case subsequent to the murder of the wife of one of the
owners of the pearl. The appraisal was revised again in 2007 at the end of
the appeals of the said case, by Michael Steenrod, taking into consideration
the inflationary trends and valued at $93 million.
However, according to some pearl experts like Jeremy Shepherd the
appraisals of Lee Sparrow and Michael Steenrod were exaggerated and far from
credible.
The Legend of the Pearl of Lao Tzu - truth or
fabrication ?
The legend of the Pearl of Lao Tzu, is just another legend and may or may
not be true. Comparison of the details of the legend with established facts
of history and science clearly show that this legend is a fabrication.
According to the legend the pearl was cultured in a giant clam 2,500 years
ago by implanting a jade amulet into the clam which acted as the nucleus of
the pearl. However, pearls were first cultured in China only in the 13th century, and
were blister pearls cultured inside mussels. Such pearls were also known as mabe pearls. A mabe pearl is a hemispherical shaped pearl which is grown
against the inside of the oyster's shell, rather than within its tissue. In
culturing a mabe pearl the nucleus is implanted between the mantle and the
inner surface of the shell of the mussel or oyster. A hemispherical pearl is
developed, with a flat back attached to the shell. Culturing of whole pearls
was not understood until the turn of the 20th century, and the method was
perfected only in Japan between 1907 and 1916, when Kokichi Mikimoto adopted
the technique developed by Mise and Nishikawa, in which the nucleus is
implanted in the tissue of the mantle or the gonads. However, A giant clam has never been
successfully grafted to produce a pearl. Thus the story of the amulet being
grafted inside the giant clam is scientifically untenable and appears to be
a fabrication.
An average life span of a giant clam in the wild is a little over a hundred
years. But according to the legend the pearl is over 2,500 years old. To
overcome this discrepancy, the legend says that as the size of the pearl
increased, the pearl was transferred into bigger and bigger clams, until
finally it was discovered in 1934 off the coast of Palawan. If this story is to be believed, between
6th century B.C. and 1934, the pearl would have been transferred from clam
to clam at least 25 times, and would have involved people of more than 25
generations, as the average life span of a human being is much less than 100
years. Moreover after the giant clam was lost in the sea off the coast of Palawan in 1750, transferring of the pearl from clam to clam would have
stopped. Thus the clam discovered off the coast of Palawan would have been
at least 184 years old, which is much higher than the average life span of a
giant clam. This gives us enough scientific and mathematical evidence to
reject the legend of Lao Tzu as a fabrication.
The Legend of the Pearl of Allah - fact or
fiction ?
Are Giant Clams Dangerous ?
According to the Legend of the Pearl of Allah, the miraculous pearl was
discovered by a young Muslim pearl diver from Palawan, who met with an
untimely death in trying to retrieve the pearl from the clam, when the
valves of the clam snapped shut trapping his hand. Let us examine this claim
scientifically to verify whether the occurrence of such an event is possible
in giant clams.
A Giant Clam (Tridacna Gigas)
The giant clam is the largest living bivalve mollusk in the world whose
scientific name is Tridacna gigas It is found in the shallow coral
reef of the South Pacific and the Indian Oceans. The Great Barrier Reef off
the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia, the largest coral reef
system in the world, and the shores off the Philippines are two places where
they are commonly found. Giant clams can grow up to a weight of more than
200 kg, measuring as much as 1.2 meters across. They have an average life
span of 100 years or more in the wild. They are sessile in adulthood and lie
with the hinge downward in the coral reefs, usually in shallow water. The
clam has established a symbiotic relationship with single-celled
dinoflagellate algae living in the clam's mantle and siphon. The clam gets
most of its nutrition from the algae, which manufactures its own food by
photosynthesis in the presence of sunlight. The clam usually lies with its
valves opening upwards, exposing the mantle tissue to sunlight, enabling the
algae to photosynthesize. Unsubstantiated stories of parts of the human body
being trapped by giant clams, have given it the notorious name as the killer
clam or the man-eating clam. While theoretically a giant clam is capable of
holding one's limbs in its grip, practically the process of closing the
shell valves is too slow to pose a serious threat to divers. Thus, a giant
clam is not capable of suddenly snapping shut on a person's arms or legs, as
is commonly believed. Therefore the giant clam is not considered anymore as
an aggressive or dangerous undersea creature. In fact there is not a single
substantiated incident in which the cause of death of a diver can be
directly attributed to a giant clam. Thus the story of the young Muslim
diver sacrificing his life in his attempt to retrieve the giant pearl appear
to be a fabrication.
Were the Dayak tribe of Palawan Muslims ?
The Dayak tribe to whom the discovery of the pearl is credited are actually
indigenous people from the neighboring island of Borneo who settled in the
southern regions of Palawan in the 12th century. Previously the Dayaks were
animist in belief but later converted to Islam. The Dayaks who settled in
Palawan were Muslims and had their own local Muslim chiefs, but they came
under the domain of the Sultanate of Borneo. However, by the mid-18th
century the entire Island of Palawan came under the rule of the Spanish
colonizers. After the Spanish left in 1898, the Americans took over the
administration of the Island. At the time of discovery of the Pearl of
Allah, in 1934, Palawan was still under American rule, with Muslims making
up the majority of the population in the far south of the island, even
though in other regions of Palawan, Roman Catholicism was the main religion.
Thus the story that the giant pearl was found by Muslim divers and later
became the property of the local Dayak chief may still be true.
Did the Dayak Chief christen the giant pearl
as the "Pearl of Allah" ?
Again, the reverence with which the stone was held by the Dayaks, and
subsequently christening it as the "Pearl of Allah" have been called into
question by historians, who believe that if the Dayaks were Muslims they
would not have given any undue respect to a pearl just because it appeared
like a turbaned and bearded Muslim. Islam forbids the visual representation
of the Holy Prophet Muhammad in any form, either as a drawing, a painting or
sculpture, lest that people would ascribe divinity to the Prophet and begin
worshipping him, instead of the almighty Allah who is divine and deserves to
be worshipped. Thus the story that the pearl appeared like a representation
of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and hence was called the "Pearl of Allah" by
the Dayak chief, appears to be a fabrication. In fact the Dayak chief did
not regard the pearl as a religious artifact, and had no special regard or
reverence for it. That was precisely the reason why he decided to part with
the pearl, when his son was cured of the deadly malaria that afflicted him,
and thus Wilburn Cobb became the proud owner of the giant pearl. Had the
so-called "Peal of Allah" had any special religious significance for him he
would never have parted with it, and perhaps the stone would have still
remained in Palawan or in neighboring Borneo.
Involvement of the "Pearl of Allah" in
celebrated court cases
After Victor Barbish and Peter Hoffmann acquired the "Pearl of Allah" for
$200,000, following the sale of Wilburn Cobb's estate, after his death in
1980, Barbish took a loan from Joseph Bonicelli, a bar owner from Colorado
Springs and as collateral gave him an interest in the pearl. In the year
1990, Bonicelli sued Victor Barbish in the courts of Colorado Springs, with
a view of recovering his loan. The pearl featured prominently in this case
as it was used as the collateral to cover the loan. During the proceedings
of this case both the Lao Tzu story and the Pearl of Allah story became part
of the legal record of this case as counsel used the stories to establish a
value for the pearl by giving it an ancient historical provenance.
Eventually, the court ruled that the three men, Peter Hoffmann, Victor
Barbish and Joseph Bonicelli, were equal partners in the pearl, and ordered
the pearl to be sold and the proceeds divided equally between them. However,
the order of the court was apparently not carried out possibly because of
the inability to find a prospective buyer at the estimated value of the
pearl
Bonicelli died in 1998, and soon after his death, the pearl featured
prominently again in another legal entanglement, this time a sensational
murder case, in which Bonicelli was directly accused of plotting to murder
his wife in 1975. Eloise, Bonicelli's wife was murdered in her house in
1975, by an unknown assailant. Investigations conducted by the police was
not able to identify the assailant or establish a motive for the gruesome
murder. Eventually, the murder was listed under unsolved mysterious murders,
and remained so until 1998, when after the death of Bonicelli, the assailant
himself confessed to the crime. Delfino Ortega, a local barber confessed
that he murdered Eloise in 1975, and that he was paid $10,000 by Bonicelli
for executing the crime. Thus, Bonicelli was directly accused of conspiring
to murder his own wife. When Bonicelli's children by Eloise learnt about the
complicity of their own father in the murder of their mother, they brought a
wrongful death suit against their late father, and pleaded for the court's
intervention in legally allocating Bonicelli's share of the pearl to them as
compensation. The Colorado courts ruled in favor of the children in the year
2005. On appeal the judgment of the previous court was confirmed in
May 2007, and the court ordered that the pearl be sold again, based on a
2007 appraisal of $ 93 million by Michael Steenrod, a Colorado Springs
gemologist, and one-third of the proceeds of the sale be given to
Bonicelli's children.
Barbish's claim of offers for the pearl
Victor Barbish who owns a one-third share in the pearl had claimed that
several interested parties had made offers for the pearl since he and his
colleague Peter Hoffmann had purchased it after Wilburn Cobb's death in
1980.
In the year 1983, he claimed that another member of the Lee family from
China, who previously claimed that the pearl was the lost pearl of Lao Tzu,
appeared in Pasadena, California, and made an offer for the pearl having
reiterated the legend of Lao Tzu. However his offer was turned down, and he
too disappeared like the previous Mr. Lee and was never heard of again.
According to Mr. Barbish President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines had
expressed interest in the pearl in 1986, but unfortunately his fall from
power prevented the sale from taking place.
But, the most intriguing of all these claims appears to be the one purported
to have been made by the international fugitive Osama bin Laden, who in 1999
attempted to purchase the Pearl of Allah for $60 million through a third
party, which was to be given as a gift to President Saddam
Hussein in order to "unite the Arab cultures," and as an overture of unity
between Al-Qaeda and the Government of Iraq, which Hussein was prepared to
accept, according to Victor Barbish. The third party however denied that
this ever happened. Barbish sued the third party and the case was later
dismissed. Critics say that the story was created by Barbish in order to
provide the much-sought after link between Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda and the
government of Saddam Hussein, that would have provided the justification for
the invasion of Iraq. The September 11 commission reported in June 2004,
that it found no collaborative relationship between Iraq and Al-Qaeda,
challenging one of Bush administrations justifications for the war in Iraq.
The position of the "Pearl of Allah" in the
Muslim world
Even though in the Non-Muslim World the "Pearl of Allah" is regarded as a
religious artifact of great significance to the Muslim World, based on
Wilburn Cobb's legend of the Pearl of Allah, published in the magazine
"Natural History" of the AMNH, New York City, in November 1939, in the
Muslim World itself, the so-called "Pearl of Allah" is treated with scant
respect. In fact many in the Muslim World are not even aware of the
existence of such a miraculous pearl. The educated elite in the Muslim
World, who may be aware of the existence of such a pearl, which appeared
like a turbaned and bearded figure, believed to be a representation of the
Holy Prophet Muhammad, do not attach any religious significance to this
pearl, and consider it as a non-entity. This is because Islam forbids the
visual representation of the Holy Prophet Muhammad in any form, be it a
drawing, painting or sculpture, lest the people would ascribe divinity to
the Prophet and begin worshipping him, instead of almighty God, who is
divine and deserves to be worshipped. This is in keeping with the
injunctions of Islam, that strictly prohibits idol worship of any form.
Thus, the so-called "Pearl of Allah" has no value in the Muslim World. This
explains why the Dayak Chief of Palawan decided to part with it, giving it
as a gift to Wilburn Cobb for saving his son's life. This also explains why
Victor Barbish's claim that Osama bin Laden attempted to gift the "Pearl of
Allah" to President Saddam Hussein in order to unite the Arab cultures, and
as an overture of unity between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein failed to have
the desired effect. Perhaps, this may also explain why no offer had been
made so far by any of the rich oil sheiks of the Middle-East to
purchase the miraculous pearl, the so-called "Pearl of Allah."
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References
1.The Pearl of Allah : The Facts, the Fiction and the
Fraud - Caitlin Williams and Kathie Hodson, Pearl-Guide.com
2.Pearl
of Lao Tzu - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
3.Nacre
- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
4.Pearls - Composition and
Chemistry - khulsey.com
5.Pearl - Website of the Department of Geological Sciences, The University
of Texas, Austin.
6.Palawan - From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia.
7.Dayak People - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
