[Edwards, Hugh, 1983, Port of Pearls, Rigby, Adelaide, Chapter 9]
Chapter Nine
Pearl Stories
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The most magnificent pearl fished out of Broome this century was the Star of the West. It was fished out of 30 metres off Willy Creek, just north of Broome, by a Japanese diver on the lugger Esse. The pearl was discovered when the shell was opened on the mother schooner Ruby. The shell-openers had never seen a pearl like it - and never would again. The Esse and Ruby were part of the fleet of James Clarke (known as the ‘Pearl King’) who had luggers at Broome, Thursday Island, and the Arafura.
The pearl-buyer H. Sussman offered him £10,000 on behalf of a syndicate as soon as the pearl was seen in Broome. It was an unheard-of price for those days, but Clarke refused to sell. He wanted to keep it for a while to enjoy it himself. It was the pearl of a century and Clarke was so proud of it that he carried it around in his waistcoat pocket to show his friends, taking it as far afield as Brisbane and Thursday Island. His manager J. T. C. McKenzie, and staff, were always in a state of apprehension in case it should be lost or stolen. But Clarke remained unruffled, saying that there was no pleasure in having such a beautiful thing locked away where no one could see it.
"There never was such another pearl," said McKenzie who saw thousands of pearls in a lifetime of pearling. "It was a beautiful drop-shaped stone which glowed and shone like a little lamp." Star of the West was the size of a sparrow's egg and weighed 100 1/8 grains. An Indian rajah heard about the pearl and offered to buy it. The Star was to be sent to Bombay for inspection, but before it was dispatched Newman's, the Melbourne jewellers, placed it in the window on exhibition. Police had to regulate the crowds which came to see it. But when he heard the rajah was furious and, declaring that the gem had been sullied by the public gaze, refused to buy it.
Finally Star of the West was sold at auction through Christies in London, far below its expected price. It brought £6,600 at the auction, but is worth many times that figure today and is still regarded as the best pearl to have come out of Broome waters.
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