Phoenixville man finds rare purple pearl in seafood appetizer he almost sent back
"I bit down on something kind of hard and I initially thought it was a shell or something like that," said Scott Overland.
PHOENIXVILLE, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A Phoenixville, Pennsylvania man said he almost clammed up and sent back the clam appetizer because the restaurant forget to remove the bell pepper garnish.
Good thing he didn't because when he ate one, he bit into a buried treasure: a rare, purple pearl.
"I bit down on something kind of hard and I initially thought it was a shell or something like that," said Scott Overland. "But then when we looked down, we saw this little purple thing. My wife thought it was bead or a little candy."
But it was a pearl.
Overland and his family found the gem at Salt Air restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
The question now is what to do with it?
"We're definitely going to get it appraised and see what it's worth," Overland said. "Obviously, if it has some sort of crazy valuation on it, it might be hard to justify keeping. Assuming that's not the case, then I think we're leaning towards hanging on to it and making a nice memory for the family."
A necklace or a ring would be easy. Earrings? Not so much.
"I've been saying that if my wife wants earrings, I'm going to have to keep eating clams to find another one," he joked.
Pearls are typically found in oysters, but the rare purple one can turn up in a clam, if you don't slurp it down first.
