Pearl of Puerto, also referred to as Pearl of

Puerto Princesa Puerto Princesa, officially the City of Puerto Princesa (Cuyonon: ''Siyudad i'ang Puerto Princesa''; fil, Lungsod ng Puerto Princesa), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Mimaropa region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, ...

( fil, Perlas ng Puerto) was found in the Philippine Sea by a Filipino fisherman. It measures 2.2 feet (67 cm) long, 1 foot (30 cm) wide and weighs 34 kilograms (75 lb).

History

The pearl was found by accident by

Cuyunon Cuyunon refers to an ethnic group populating the Cuyo Islands, along with northern and central Palawan. The Cuyunons hail originally from Cuyo and the surrounding Cuyo Islands, a group of islands and islets in the northern Sulu Sea, to the n ...

fishermen when they tried to pull the anchor of their ship from the seabed because of an impending storm. One of the fishermen then decided to dive to free the anchor and then found a giant clam. The fishermen thought of cooking the clam and then discovered the giant pearl. The pearl was hidden for 10 years by one of the fishermen as a token of good luck by rubbing the pearl before going out fishing. It is said that rubbing the pearl would give him a lot of fish to catch. The pearl was given to Aileen Cynthia Maggay-Amurao, a tourism officer in Puerto Princesa and relative of the fisherman. It was given since the fisherman was going to move to another place and the pearl needed safekeeping. The pearl was then displayed in Puerto Princesa where it remains to this day.

Characteristics

The pearl has a length close to 2 feet and the weight of the pearl is close to 34 kilograms. Unlike true pearls, the Pearl of Puerto does not show

iridescence Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...

. Since the pearl is bigger than the

Pearl of Lao Tzu The Pearl of Lao Tzu (also referred to as Pearl of Lao Tze) was once considered the largest known pearl. The pearl was found in the Palawan sea, which surrounds the island of Palawan in the Philippines, and was found by a Filipino diver. It is not ...

, the value of the pearl is higher. It is estimated that the pearl would cost around US $100 million.

References

External links

* {{cite web , url=http://puertoprincesa.ph/?q=photogallery/pearl-puerto , title=Pearl of Puerto , website=puertoprincesa.ph , access-date=2021-01-21 , archive-date=2018-06-28 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628044523/http://puertoprincesa.ph/?q=photogallery%2Fpearl-puerto , url-status=dead Individual pearls Mollusc products Culture of Palawan Puerto Princesa