A restaurant patron who was enjoying a seafood dish in an Italian restaurant in Issaquah, Wash., became $600 richer after biting into a rare Quahog purple pearl.
Lindsay Hasz ordered fruitti di mare, a dish laden with different kinds of seafood, including shellfish, when she bit into a rare Quahog purple pearl.
"It was quite jarring," Hasz said, according to Komo News. "In fact, I thought I almost broke my tooth it was so hard."
"I thought maybe it was an earring from an employee in the kitchen and it fell into my dish," Hasz added.
Hasz did not complain but instead went home and did some research. She then brought the pearl it to Ted Irwin, a gemologist and director of the Northwest Geological Institute.
"The Mr. Skeptic in me originally may have dissuaded her at first since a lot of pearls people find aren't really anything most of the time," the gemologist said, according to ABC News. "But I took a look at it, and sure enough, she did have a Quahog pearl."
Irwin authenticated the find. The purple pearl is estimated to be worth about $600 and is "one in a couple million is of gem quality, so it is a very rare occurrence," gemologist Irwin added, according to Fox News.
The restaurant owners, Fernando and Cindy Nardone, said more people coming to their restaurant and ordering the same meal, hoping to discover another hidden gem.
Hasz has decided to hold onto her Quahog purple pearl and turn it into a unique necklace.
