Newport Museum hosts the World’s Largest Pearl

-By Zora Renart

July 16th, 2022

The Newport Nautical History Museum will be hosting the collection of Prescott Wilson, a wealthy financier from Grants Pass, and his prize jewel, the world’s largest pearl. The pearl was recovered in the bay of Newport back in 1998, and purchased by Wilson the following year. The display at the Museum is the first time it will be seen by the public since the purchase.
The pearl has been known for its strange qualities. The pearl, of a pinkish color, has a strange natural mark which has been described as looking like a celtic knot by observers. According to Wilson, when one listens closely to the pearl, it sounds as if they are near the ocean.
Much urban legend also surrounds the pearl. According to the Newport Nautical History Museum, there is legend that the pearl was originally recovered by the Elizabethan explorer Sir Francis Drake, who sailed up the Oregon coast during his circumnavigation of the globe in 1579. In his so-called “New Albion” he uncovered the pearl and displayed it for some time in the court of Queen Elizabeth herself. It was stolen and went missing for hundreds of years.
It would resurface in 1996, when it was discovered to be in the possession of the criminal, the Sea-Witch, who terrorized the coasts of Oregon that year. She promptly disappeared after a confrontation with the Emerald-Man, and so did the pearl. It would then be recovered in 1998, where it was put on auction and purchased by Prescott Wilson.
The pearl will be on display in the museum until the end of July, where it will return to Prescott Wilson’s vault, though it will return to museums in Washington in the spring of next year.