Imagine Eating at Your Favorite Restaurant and Finding a Rare Purple Pearl

Imagine eating at your favorite Acadiana restaurant when you find a rare purple pearl in an oyster, that's pretty much what happened to Scott Overland of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

Scott Overland was eating clams at the Salt Air restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware when low and behold, he found a rare purple pearl inside one of the clams. A purple pearl is so rare, that most people have never seen one.

According to WCAU-TV, Scott and his family weren't sure what it was at first.

At first, my wife thought it was, like, a bead or one of those—it looked like one of those 'Dot' candies on the paper. We thought the chef dropped something in there. -Scott Overland to WCAU-TV

The Overland family found the valuable purple pearl in a northern quahog clam. The purple pearl is believed to be worth thousands.

Pearls, especially natural pearls are valued on their size, their shape, their color, the surface blemish and their luster. A pearl like that could go for a thousand, $2,000, $3,000 and up. -Shawn O'Sullivan, president of Gemological Resources to CBS News 

Purple pearls only show up in restaurants two to three times per year. The Overlands told Delaware Online that they didn't know a clam could make a pearl.

We had never heard of a pearl in a clam. I always thought they came in oysters. -Scott Overland to Delaware Online

Scott Overland's meal costs about $14 that night. He will have the purple pearl appraised, if he sells it, the rare natural pearl will fetch thousands.

The odds of finding a natural purple pearl in a clam shell is about 1 in 5000.