Made under the Philippine Sea

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

EGL USA had never seen so large a specimen. This natural pearl is weighing 2.267 Kg. Indeed, this laboratory is a leading expert of gemology, well-equipped with microscope, digital radiography and X-ray fluorescence for the study of pearls.

The piece has been authenticated and its "author" identified. The monster which provided such a product is the giant clam, Tridacna Gigas, which lives in the Philippines. This is the biggest of all bivalve mollusks. Its shell can measure 1.5 m and weigh 250 kg. Despite its bad reputation, it is not dangerous.

There is no comparison here, of course, with the perfect shape, spherical or ovoid, of small pearls. The surface tension created during the decades of its growing gave it the shape and look of a brain 15 cm long. It is not nacreous.

This aberration of nature will be on sale at Long Island NY on September 13 by Philip Weiss. The estimate is not indicated.

Leave a few moments the art world. I take this opportunity to advise those interested with underwater fauna to visit the excellent French website Sous les mers. I informed them of this curiosity.

[Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa]

I did visit sous les mers. I love marine biology & I did a painting on that too!
And thanks for the information.
Regards
Krishna

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

This lot did not attract anybody. Unsold. Comparing the highest bid (visible on Proxibid) with the estimate which was eventually shown in the catalog, I prefer keeping silence: sorry I do not republish these figures. This looks like a hoax.