A vacationer found a rare, purple pearl at a Delaware restaurant in August. It has been appraised at over $4,000, but he’s not selling.
Scott Overland, of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, dined at Salt Air in Rehoboth Beachwith his wife and two children Aug. 9. He ordered a $14 littleneck clams appetizer – and almost sent it back because his wife didn’t like the pepper garnish.
“I guess sometimes you get rewarded for not being a pain at restaurants!” he said.
Overland felt something hard in his mouth as he ate and spit out something small, buttonlike and purple. He noticed an indentation in the clam shell, but was skeptical he had found a pearl.
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“We had never heard of a pearl in a clam. I always thought they came in oysters,” he said.
Pearls grow in oysters, clams and several other mollusks. Overland’s pearl grew in a Cherrystone Aqua Farms northern quahog in the Chesapeake Bay.
Ballard Clams and Oysters, Cherrystone Aqua Farms’ parent company, harvests between 60 million and 80 million clams a year from multiple sites in the Chesapeake.
Ballard spokesman Tim Parsons said he hears about diners finding pearls in their clams and oysters several times a year.
“Usually, it’s over a dentist claim,” he joked.
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The Gemological Institute of American confirmed for Overland he had found a natural pearl, who then had it appraised by Joshua Hyman, a fourth-generation jeweler and owner of Philadelphia Jewelry Appraisers.
Hyman valued the pearl at $4,071 for insurance purposes, but said it could easily sell for more. He said natural pearls found in clams are common, but what makes Overland’s rare is its jewelry-quality beauty.
“Not too bad for a bowl of clams on vacation!” Overland said.
He plans to keep the pearl, much to the delight of his purple-loving 6-year-old daughter, and may have it made into a piece of jewelry.
“It’s just too special of a memory and item to sell,” he said.
