World’s Largest Pearl Confiscated by Marshals in Ownership Dispute

A football-sized, 14-pound pearl listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest has been seized by U.S. marshals in a dispute over its ownership.

The pearl was confiscated Friday in Colorado Springs, Colo., by U.S. marshals acting on an order issued by U.S. District Judge Sherman Finesilver in Denver. It was being kept in a Denver bank.

Finesilver issued his order after U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. in Los Angeles ordered the pearl seized and held.

Peter D. Hoffman, who bought the pearl from the estate of Wilburn Dowell Cobb for $200,000, claims a percentage of ownership.

‘Looks Like a Brain’

“It looks like a brain,” said Denver lawyer James Lyons, who represents a Texas corporation that also claims a stake in the pearl.

Hoffman said that two men who have partial ownership of the pearl, Joseph Bonicelli and Thomas Phillips, had “asserted a 100% ownership interest in the Pearl of Allah and are attempting to sell the pearl for their own benefit for approximately $10 million” in a deal that was to be finalized by last Friday.

Hoffman said the two men revised their claim to 50% ownership after he filed a complaint in a Colorado Springs court earlier this month and obtained a restraining order to prevent sale of the pearl without court approval.

Firm Seeks Sale Proceeds

Among others claiming a portion of the proceeds from the sale is a Texas firm, Trans-Exchange Corp., with a claim of almost $500,000 for a 5% commission on the $10-million sale.

California businessman Victor Barbish has contended that Hoffman sold him 50% of the pearl.

The pearl, also known as the Pearl of Lao-tze, was found in 1934 in the Philippines in the shell of a giant clam.

The Guinness book said the pearl was valued at $4.08 million in 1971, and a 1982 appraisal by the San Francisco Gem Laboratory suggested a value of $32.64 million.