By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-11 15:41:54 | Updated at 2024-12-22 07:17:09
1 week ago
A lucky woman uncovered a pearl while dining on oysters with her daughter in small-town North Carolina.
Freda Bryant made the fortunate discovery at Full Moon Oyster Bar in Morrisville - unfortunately, mid-bite.
Thankfully, her teeth were fine - and she's now poised to make a pretty penny, pending an appraisal.
'My daughter and I were coming from a doctor's appointment and she was like, "Mom, we gotta get some food,"' Bryant told WTVD of how it happened.
'So we ordered some oysters, and I'm eating... and I go "Oh my god, my tooth came out!'"
That's when the pair realized the obstruction was actually pearl, she said - touting the brilliant, round prize roughly the size of a marble as she spoke.
'It's like one in 10,000 chances of this happening,' she added, no planning to the have the pearl properly examined by experts.
Speaking outside the unassuming seafood restaurant, she called the Tuesday find a direct message from the universe - one telling her to 'keep moving forward positively', no matter what.
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A woman found a pearl while dining on oysters with her daughter in North Carolina Tuesday
Freda Bryant made the extremely fortunate discovery at Full Moon Oyster Bar. She's seen speaking outside the small-town eatery after slurping up the pearl with her seafood
'It's impressive,' added a staffer at the eatery, which sells the delectable, briny bites for $25 a dozen.
'This is my pearl,' added Bryant, parading the calcium carbonate-coated particle that could be worth thousands of dollars in a jewelry box. 'Isn't that cool?'
The smiling worker agreed - seemingly caught up in Bryant's still-fresh elation.
Based on his expression, he too seemed astounded by what had just occurred, as only 1 in about 10,000 wild oysters will yield a pearl like Bryant slurped up accidentally.
The organic creations are made when a grain of sand or some other irritants gets into an oyster shell, spurring the oyster to coat itself with thin layers of a mineral secretion that form a pearl over several years.
Only a small percentage ever achieve the size, shape and color desirable to most jewelers - but, at first glance, Bryant's bauble appears up to snuff.
Roughly the size of nickel, the price of the piece, based on its size, shapes and luster, is likely at least $100, according to analysts at pearl-lang.com.
Even if the mother and daughter had ordered two dozen, a hefty profit would be in the cards.
'It's impressive,' said a surprised staffer of the discovery, smiling alongside an elated Bryant on Tuesday
Bryant had been on the way home from a doctor's appointment when her daughter suggested, "Mom, we gotta get some food,"' she said
The unassuming eatery sells the briny bites for $25 a dozen - meaning Bryant stands to make a pretty penny, pending an appraisal
'This is my pearl,' said Bryant said the calcium carbonate-coated particle that could be worth thousands in a jewelry box. 'Isn't that cool?' Experts say the pearl could be worth up to $2,000
That's one 'shell' of a discovery, some might say - as pearls popping up on a patron's plate are exceedingly uncommon.
That said, the phenomenon is not unheard of, with a 66-year-old New Yorker coming across one while enjoying oysters at Manhattan's iconic Grand Central Oyster Bar around this time in 2018.
'For a fraction of a second, there was terror,' Rick Antosh told the New York Post at the time. 'Is it a tooth; is it a filling?'
'And I took it out and saw that it couldn't have been anything else [but a pearl]. It was pearly white and round.'
He went on to get the appraised by Eddie Livi, owner of DSL Pearl on West 47th Street in Manhattan. It was found to be worth $400.
