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Chasing the Pearl of Lao Tzu — A tale of ancient philosophers, alien abductions, murder-for-hire and how the world’s largest pearl came to be the centerpiece of an 80-year-old hoax

Posted by cfabbro
Tags: conmen, fraud, murder, calcium carbonate concretion, crime, hoaxes, pearls, author.michael lapointe, source.the atlantic, long read, paywall
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-pearl-of-lao-tzu/559109/

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Title
Chasing the Pearl of Lao Tzu
Authors
Michael LaPointe
Published
Sep 10 2018
Word count
8257 words

1 comment

  1. cfabbro
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    Another doozy of a read but a rather bizarrely funny (and depressing) one. Passed from conman to conman to conman, the tradition finally carried on by the son of the last owner. The insanity just...

    Another doozy of a read but a rather bizarrely funny (and depressing) one. Passed from conman to conman to conman, the tradition finally carried on by the son of the last owner. The insanity just keep going and going. The original religious myth/legend may be entirely made up but the Pearl is clearly actually cursed... to bring out the absolute worst in its owners and everyone fighting over their piece of the pie.