For centuries, pearls have been admired for their timeless elegance and luxury status. Although diamonds often steal the spotlight in jewellery, pearls are typically even more elusive than these celebrated gems. Join us as jump into the fascinating world of the most expensive pearls and the legends that have accompanied them throughout history.
The Cowdray Black Pearl Necklace
The Cowdray pearl necklace is a beautiful piece of pearl jewellery that certainly catches the eye. Composed of a single row of 38 graduated natural grey pearls, this necklace is truly unique and incredibly rare. Greyness only occurs in roughly 1 in every 100,00 thousand pearls! Ornamented with a rectangular mixed-cut diamond clasp this necklace can be worn with the clasp at the front or the back adding versatility and demonstrating it’s craftsmanship.
The necklace was sold in 2012 at a Christie’s auction in London for $3.3 million, setting a record for the most expensive pearl necklace in the world at that time. It went to auction again at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in 2015, this time fetching a stunning $5.3 million – breaking the record that it had set 13 years earlier!
The Duchess of Windsor Pearl Necklace
This Cartier pearl necklace was commissioned by King George V as a gift for Queen Mary in 1926. The 26-pearl single-strand necklace was passed onto her daughter-in-law Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, after she married the former King Edward VIII following his abdication.
Known for her exquisite taste and remarkable jewelry collection, the Duchess cherished this elegant piece, which became one of her signature accessories, pictured in it several times.
The necklace, embodying both royal heritage and romance, was later auctioned as part of the Duchess’s estate in 1987, fetching $4.8 million at auction.
La Peregrina Pearl
Few pearls have a story as colourful as La Peregrina. As one of the oldest pearls in the world, this pear-shaped pearl has been owned by a host of significant historical figures over the years, with the first record of its discovery dated as 1513.
Discovered off the coast of Panama, the pearl was owned the administrator of Panama at the time before being gifted to King Philip II of Spain and becoming part of the Spanish Crown Jewels.
The pearl was briefly owned by Marie of Spain, gifted to her by Philippe II, and upon her death it was returned to the royal Spanish Crown. More than 100 years after this initial ownership, the pearl was smuggled out of Spain by Joseph Bonaparte – sibling to Napoleon Bonaparte – after the Battle of Victoria saw a wrecking French defeat.
In the 1870s, Napoleon III sold the stunning pearl to James Hamilton, who was at the time the Duke of Abercorn. The ownership of the pearl after this time is unclear until it appeared at auction in 1969. You might think this is where La Peregrina’s magical story ends, but you’d be wrong.
The pearl was purchased by actor Richard Burton for $37,000, and gifted to Elizabeth Taylor as a romantic Valentine’s Day present. Taylor famously once found one of her Pekinese dogs chewing on the pearl before tagging Carier to incorporate the pearl into an intricate necklace. The famous pearl, diamond and ruby necklace was most recently sold for $11.8 million as part of her collection at Christie’s auction.
The Pearl of Allah (the Pearl of Lao Tze)
This pearl has an interesting and dark discovery. In 1934, off the coast of the Palawan Island in the Philippines, a giant Tridacna clam’s huge jaws clamped down on an unsuspecting tribesman diver, resulting in his death. To exonerate his fellow divers from this tragic accident, the clam was retrieved and eventually left on the porch of Panglima Pisi, the Mohammedan chief and local notary.
The meat of the clam fell apart to reveal an enormous pearl, believed to have ‘the image of a turbaned face, formed by nature on one of the sides’ according to a transcript by American archaeologist Wilburn Dowell Cobb. During his expedition, Cobb learned of the pearl’s discovery and sought out the tribe. According to the transcript, the tribe believed the pearl to bear the resemblance to Mohammed.
Though Cobb befriended the tribe and wished to buy the pearl, he was turned down due to the pearls religious resemblance. However, two years later the chief’s son fell ill and was saved by Cobb’s supply of western medicine. In exchange for saving his son, the pearl was gifted to Cobb who owned the pearl until his death in 1979. The pearl was sold for $200,000 after his death but is now estimated to be worth around $35 million though the legendary story is now thought to contain fabrication…
Marie Antoinette’s 18th Century Pearls
Unseen by the public for centuries, the jewels of Marie Antoinette broken auction records in 2018 at Sotheby’s Royal Jewels from the Bourbon Parma Family auction. Set with an oval diamond and bow motif, the baroque style natural pearl is suspended in a perfect pendant. The pendant individually sold for just under $36 million, but was once suspended from Marie Antoinette’s three strand pearl necklace with diamond clasp which sold for $2.2 million.
Her pearls are believed to be amongst the jewels that were packed up under cover of night in 1791 as the King and Queen prepared to escape from the besieged Palace of the Tuileries, and the armed revolutionaries surrounding them. The concealed jewels were sent to the safekeeping of the Austrian Emperor, Marie Antoinette’s nephew, and passed down through generations.
Pearl of Puerto Princesa
Also known as the Pearl of Puerto, this pearl is the largest example to be found in the Philippines. It weighs 34 kilograms (75 lbs) and measures 2.2 ft (67 cm) long and 1 ft (30 cm) wide.
The pearl was found inside a giant clam by a local fisherman, who keep it under his bed for years as a good luck charm, unaware of it’s potential value. Passed on to a family member and with granted permission the pearl became the new tourist attraction of city Puerto Princesa. The pearl was valued at $93m and knocked the Pearl of Allah off the world record holder.
Beauty of the Ocean ‘Pearl’
The most expensive pearl in the whole world is the Beauty of the Ocean Pearl, and it differs to the rest as it is man-made. Weighing 6 tonnes and standing at 5 feet tall, it set a world record as the biggest man-made pearl.
Composed of fluorite, giving it an iridescent green hue and gentle glow in the dark when exposed to ultraviolet light, this huge pearl took 3 years to create with Chinese workers slowly grinding the stone into the rounded pearl shape we see today.
In China culture, they use the term ‘Ye Ming Zhu’ to refer to minerals, crystals and gems that glow. Whilst the Ye Ming Zhu isn’t a specific type of rock or mineral, it translates to ‘night bright pearl’ and is documented in Chinese legend as a powerful talisman and representation of inner enlightenment.
This ginormous Ye Ming Zhu pearl was valued at $139 million, making it the most expensive pearl in existence. Although it’s man-made the Beauty of the Ocean Pearl is still widely-considered a pearl so we had to include it as our most expensive pearl in the world!
And there you have it – the most stunning and expensive pearls in the world. Each one is beautiful and unique, and each one definitely deserves the crazy price tags that they have. Discover more pearl jewellery online now at AC Silver!
