Fact Check: Photo Shows Giant Pearl Filipino Fisherman Kept Under His Bed for 10 Years?
By Aleksandra Wrona,
13 hours ago
Claim:
A photo shared online in September 2024 authentically showed a 75-pound pearl with an estimated value of $100 million that a Filipino fisherman kept under his bed for 10 years.
While the photograph is authentic and does show an item kept under a fisherman's bed for 10 years, no official sources have confirmed the object is a genuine pearl. Moreover, as the item's authenticity could not be confirmed, its alleged estimated value of $100 million could also not be verified.
In late September 2024, a Reddit user posted a photo purportedly showing a 75-pound pearl (34 kilograms) valued at roughly $100 million. The post claimed it was discovered by a fisherman in the Philippines, who kept it under his bed for 10 years as a good luck charm.
In summary, the picture is authentic and has been shared by the Filipino media and several reputable western news outlets, many of which reported it was indeed kept under a fisherman's bed for 10 years.
But crucially, no official sources have confirmed it as a genuine pearl, and some experts have cast doubt on that crucial part of the claim. Moreover, as its authenticity could not be confirmed, its alleged estimated value of $100 million likewise could not be verified. However, preliminary tests did reportedly find it had the characteristics of a pearl. Therefore, given the inconclusive and contradictory evidence, we have rated this claim as unproven.
Is The Photo Real?
Multiple reputable news outlets published the photo in 2016, such as the BBC , Rappler , and The Guardian . The former described it as reportedly the "world's biggest," but added that gemologists still needed to confirm to officials whether it was indeed the world's largest pearl.
Likewise, local newspaper Palawan News included the image in an article published on Aug. 21, 2016. That outlet credited the picture to Aileen Cynthia Amurao, a tourist officer for the Filipino city of Puerto Princesa.
(Wayback Machine)
The photo was also posted on Facebook by Amurao (seemingly now Maggay), who shared another picture of her standing next to the object five days later on Aug. 25, 2016. Similarly, the City Government of Puerto Princesa posted numerous images of the item from different angles in a Facebook album around the same time.
Associated Press published similar photographs on Aug. 25, and the captions said they were provided by Puerto Princesa Tourism Office.
(Facebook page for City Government of Puerto Princesa)
The City Government of Puerto Princesa's Val Pillerva said in an email that "unofficial tests to determine its genuineness" were conducted, but the former city tourism officer declined the idea of carrying out an "actual test." Pillerva added:
A biology expert from the University of the Philippines once visited the City Tourism Department and flat out stated that it was not a pearl since pearls do not take such shape and it was too heavy (34 kilograms) for its size and was not shiny unlike how it appeared online. It was pulled out from the office in around 2017. It was done discreetly and some details were still unknown even to City Tourism staff.
Likewise, on Aug. 24, 2016, The Guardian said the item had not yet been authenticated, while the Palawan News article added: "Amurao has called the attention of the Gemologist Institute, among other proper authorities or agencies, for authentication and appraising of the said pearl."
An AP News article from Aug. 25 echoed this — along with the descriptions on its photos — and as did Amurao (now Maggay) in a Facebook post .
We have reached out to Maggay and will update this article if we receive a response.
According to a YouTube video posted in early September 2016 by GMA Public Affairs — a division of the Philippine media conglomerate GMA Network, Inc. — Palawan officials conducted a preliminary examination of the object to test its authenticity.
The narrator of the footage said the test found characteristics of a real pearl, however a marine biologist named Floredel Galon , countered this by saying its features did not match those of a pearl.
Authors Michael S. Krzemnicki and Laurent E. Cartier concluded the so-called pearl, among others they observed, was "fake" and "unambiguously" a bead "cut and polished from Tridacna shell."
Snopes contacted Krzemnicki and Cartier for a comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
Gemological Institute of America (GIA) said they could not comment on the specific item as they have not examined it. However, the spokesperson mentioned Pearl-Guide.com website, a site for jewelers, pearl farmers and pearl experts, which included a thread on the in-question discovery that read (emphasis in bold ours):
The [alleged pearl] was reported on by NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes and so many more. Unfortunately, none of these publications vetted the claims made before picking up the story. Any expert could have told them it was not a pearl. It was a piece of shell.
A spokesperson for the International Gem Society (IGS) said they "haven't been able to verify the authenticity because no one has been to see it in person. However, we can cast doubt on the $100m valuation. It is highly unlikely that a sale would reach that price. We have a saying at IGS: 'The stone may be rare, but the buyer is rarer.'"
I read a few years ago that it had been confirmed as a real pearl, it was found in a giant clam the fisherman was harvesting, so truthfully real pearls come from pearl oysters not class, but it is an excretion from a mollusk, so go figure!
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