While Eating Mussels at a Restaurant, a Customer Finds a Rare Pearl
ENGLAND – A customer found a rare pearl while eating mussels at a seafood restaurant.
Paige Hawkins recently celebrated her 29th birthday with her boyfriend, Jimmy Lee, alongside family and friends at The Quayside, a seafood restaurant located in Stourport, just 15 minutes from her residence in Kidderminster, Worcestershire. This establishment has become a cherished venue for her annual birthday celebrations, and she shared her experience in an interview with the Kidderminster Shuttle on September 17, 2024.
During the meal, Paige ordered lobster while Jimmy chose mussels. While consuming a mussel, he unexpectedly bit into a hard object and stopped chewing. To their astonishment, the object was revealed to be a small pearl. This discovery elicited disbelief among all present, as finding a pearl within a mussel is exceptionally rare.
Paige noted that subsequent research indicated the likelihood of finding a pearl in a mussel is approximately one in 10,000. Despite having consumed mussels on numerous occasions, neither she nor Jimmy had encountered such a phenomenon before. In a gesture of affection, Jimmy presented the pearl to Paige, who intends to preserve it by transforming it into a necklace or another form of jewelry to commemorate this extraordinary moment.
Vee Alexander, the restaurant manager, confirmed the uniqueness of the find, stating that The Quayside serves over 25 kilos of mussels each week, and this incident marks the first occurrence of a pearl being discovered in the restaurant’s four-year history. He characterized the event as both “special” and “extremely rare.”
Pearls form inside shells when foreign materials, such as sand or other minerals, penetrate the shell, prompting the shellfish to secrete layers of nacre that ultimately create the pearl. Typically, pearls are found in older and larger shells, but there is no definitive method to ascertain whether a shell contains a pearl. Meanwhile, Paige plans to have the pearl appraised by a jeweler to determine its value, marking this discovery as a distinctive and unforgettable birthday surprise.