A Pennsylvania man was as happy as a clam when he ate in Delaware and found a purple pearl inside a shellfish.
Scott Overland of Phoenixville told NBC10 Philadelphia that he was eating at Salt Air in Rehoboth Beach with his wife and children when he found the rare treasure inside a clam.
At first, they thought it was a piece of candy or a bead.
“We thought the chef dropped something in there,” he said.
On closer inspection, however, he found that it must have come from inside of the clam.
“As we were looking at the shell, we saw this little indentation on the shell, inside the clam where it was growing, so we figured it was probably something from inside the clam,” he said.
Overland said that he almost sent back the clams before he found the pearl because his wife didn't like the bell pepper garnish.
He said that he is going to get the pearl valued.
Pearls usually grow inside the shells of living oysters, but they can also grow inside clams, mussels, and other shellfish.
Pearls can be worth thousands of dollars, but on average they are worth between $300 and $1,500, according to The Pearl Source. The price depends on the pearl's color, size, and where it was made: in the wild or on a farm.
