A Thai fisherman found a 7.6-gram orange pearl on a beach in Nakhon Si Thammarat that is supposedly worth millions of baht. To see the pearl in person, a potential buyer also plans to fly to Thailand and undergo a 14-day quarantine.
Only a few months ago, in the same province, another Thai man struck it rich when he found a big load of whale vomit worth more than US$4.2 million. Oh, yes... whale vomit. The hardened bile is known as "ambergris," the more elegant name. The so-called "floating gold" is so expensive because it's used in perfume as a fixative.
He says Haschai Niyomdecha, who found an orange pearl, that he went to Koh Phet Beach in search of pearls after a call from a spirit who, he says, helped him out of poverty. Haschai, from Nakhon Ratchasima province of Isaan, says that the night before, in his dreams, an old man with a long beard and dressed in white came to him and told him to visit the beach because there was a gift waiting for him.
He went down to the beach when Haschai woke up. He walked along the coast and, as per Thai media reports, picked three oysters. He waited to open them until he got home. An oyster, a large orange pearl, open while he was prying. That seems to be a slice of marble and was about the same diameter as a 5 baht coin.
Media reports say the gem is a Melo pearl, rather than an oyster, found in the Melo Melo sea snail. Thai media reports, however, that the pearl was found in an oyster and photos show the pearl in an oyster shell.
Haschai has already received offers for a pearl of 1 million baht and 5 million baht. Haschai, however, has refused both offers and will check the authenticity. If the pearl is a genuine Melo pearl, then at least 10 million baht is worth it, Haschai says.
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