Rare purple pearl found inside clam by Delaware diner

A Pennsylvania man was left as happy as a clam after finding a purple pearl inside a shellfish while dining in Delaware.

Scott Overland, of Phoenixville, told NBC10 Philadelphia he was eating with his wife and children at Salt Air in Rehoboth Beach when he found the rare, glistening treasure inside of a clam.

At first they thought it was some kind of bead or a piece of candy.

“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 he almost sent the clams back before he found the pearl because of a bell pepper garnish that his wife didn’t like.

He said he plans to have the pearl appraised.

While pearls are typically formed inside of the shells of living oysters, they can also form inside of other shellfish like clams and mussels. 

Depending on its color, size and where the pearl was formed — naturally in the wild or cultured on a farm — they can be worth thousands of dollars, but on average are worth between $300 and $1,500, according to The Pearl Source.