ALLAH'S PEARL

The story of this pearl, which had fished in 1934, is very tragic. The locals had long been unable to find their missing young chief, who had gone to the sea and never returned.

The young man was fishing for pearls, as usual, which is one of the livelihoods of Filipinos. Diving once again, in search of possible prey, he came across a giant clam, which weighed about three tons.

The young fisherman did not notice the open flaps well camouflaged in the coral rock of the clam and accidentally hit the shell with his hand.

The giant tridacna slammed the flaps of its shell, and the young man's hand trapped, from which he could not free himself.

The young man's body, along with the clam, was brought to the surface. When they opened the shell, they found a huge pearl in it. The amazing find looked a lot like a human head in a turban.

That is why the giant pearl was called the Pearl of Allah.

It is difficult to say how many years it had been growing inside this sea creature. Its weight was almost 6.5 kilograms. The shape of this stone was very reminiscent of a human head. A mullah from a local mosque saw a turban in this pearl and decided to call it the Pearl of Allah.

The pearl had a geometrically irregular shape, and in its structure and crinkles was somewhat similar to the human brain. Though, unlike pearls found in oyster shells, it did not have any distinctive pearl luster, which, of course, affected its value as well.

However, this pearl has become a Guinness Book of Records record-breaker as the largest pearl in the world.

This amazing pearl stayed with the family of a dead fisherman for a while. But eventually it was donated to Wilbur Cobb.

In 1980 Cobb's heir sold the pearl of Allah to the California jeweler Peter Hoffman, who paid $200,000 for it.

The jeweler later resold the pearl to Victor Barbish, who owns it to this day. 

But apparently the famous pearl of Allah will have to cede the palm to a new record holder. In 2016, an irregularly shaped pearl was found weighing 34 kilograms and measuring 30 by 67 centimeters.

About 10 years ago it was found by fisherman from Palawan Island. All this time, he superstitiously, fearing to scare off good luck, secretly kept the treasure under his bed. And now, years after he found it, he unveiled the giant pearl to the world. If experts definitively confirm the authenticity of his find, the treasure will be recognized as the largest pearl in history.