Lindsay Hasz, a woman from Issaquah, Washington, accidentally found a rare species purple pearl while dining in a restaurant.
As Lindsay mentions, she was on a "rare date night without the kids" with husband Christopher in the Montalcino Ristorante Italiano restaurant. While eating her clam dish, she bit something hard. She said, "Something really, really hard."
Talking with ABC news, she said, "I felt like I almost broke my tooth when I first bit it. It was pretty dark in the restaurant, so it was hard to tell what it was, but when I looked at it closer, it looked totally round and perfect. Too perfect."
Once she got the pearl in her hands she approached gemologist Ted Irwin, president of the Northwest Geological Laboratory and director of the Northwest Geological Institute.
Irwin while talking to ABC news said, "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. But I took a look at it, and sure enough, she did have Quahog pearl."
Irwin also mentioned that finding a pearl of such a gem quality is really a very rare thing. The pearl is actually found in the clams which belong to the Atlantic states, New England Area. This gem quality pearl is found one in two billion.
Estimating the pearl Irwin found that the purple gem pearl was little more than a carat and it is worth more than $600 as per the market price.
Hasz when told about the pearl to the restaurant owners they were totally excited. The owners Cindy Nardone and Fernando while talking to Fox News said, "We only serve the finest for our customers. Coming to our restaurant is like winning the lottery!"
