Posted on 01/30/2005 2:31:56 PM PST by wagglebee
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."
Eww! I had a job with the State Department, till the war started, they coulda sent me anywhere, Albania is low on the list. Macedonia shouldn't be too bad, just don't act Greek!
Looks more like the 'Turd of Allah.'
I'll certainly do that.
I like Shadowfax . . . stunning blue eyes -- did you Photoshop that, or are they really that color?
I had to go to the Congo 2 years ago, but my company nixed it because they couldn't insure me if I got my head machetted off.
Thanks, will look forward to it! :o) They are really that color. People have commented on their striking eyes. She's very sweet and shy... Jabez is the outgoing troublemaker.
IIRC it was 'The Black Pearl'. Flemming and John did a song about it.
The Pearl
Oh look I’ve found it,
Oh I’ve really found it,
How could such a thing be happening to me?
Oh please don’t drop it,
I’d die if you lost it,
You see it means the world to me.
Now everything we ever wanted,
Lies within our reach.
Patiently anticipating,
The world lies at our feet.
It could be the pearl,
It could be our hope, our dream, our life
It could be the pearl,
The end of all our pain and strife could be the pearl
Run, keep on running,
Oh I hear them coming,
How could they try to take what is ours?
Please run faster,
Oh they’re right behind us,
How much farther can we go?
It possesses me, controls me,
It makes me run, it makes me kill.
The very thing that made me strong,
Has taken all my will.
It could be the pearl,
Tt could be our hope, our dream, our life.
Tt could be the pearl,
The end of all our pain and strife could be the pearl.
I must take it, throw it in the ocean,
Far, far away from me,
We were happy, oh we were so happy,
When things were the way they used to be.
It could be the pearl,
It could be our hope, our dream, our life.
It could be the pearl,
The end of all our pain and strife could be the pearl.
I knew Lao-Tzu had to be mixed up with this somehow.
An amulet is a "charm" worn around the neck to ward off evil; so what I was wondering is how did he wear this monstrosity?
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=amulet
makes sense--she's a flame point Himalayan! The fur must be annoying during the spring shedding season.
We have enough loose fur to knit another cat...
How did they get that thing out of Teddy's skull to photograph it, and back in again without him noticing it?
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Clams don't produce nacre,which is what makes a pearl luminescent.So it doesn't matter how long a clam can live.And deformed pearls aren't worth much.To add even more insult to this lame story,if and it's a huge "IF" even some of this story is true,it's a cultured/man made pearl which is worth considerably less than a natural one;even if it's a Mikimoto cultured pearl!
Reminds me of the Michelin Man, too.
Hi, there! I finally put up a picture of my cat. I think he looks pretty good on the Internet.
Good evening :o)
Your kitty is so adorable, his fur looks so soft. I like the cute little blotch to the side of his nose... :o) Thank you for showing me! What's his name?
He's amazingly sociable, considering he's a cat. When someone knocks at the door, he gets there before I do, and he always hangs out with guests -- not that people are running to my door all the time, or anything.
I imagine you're pretty good with all that HTML/CSS stuff, being a programmer. I want to put up a homepage, but I think the hardest part will be deciding on the content!
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