A man who purchased two oysters to help cure his hangover got a surprise while chewing one of his medicinal shellfish. He thought he had lost a filling after feeling a round lump between his teeth, but low and behold it was a pearl, reports The Mirror on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013.
The new owner of the pearl and the man with a hangover, James Humphries, said the pearl is small, but “it’s perfectly formed.” The oyster was purchased at E Rawle & Co. in Newquay, Cornwall, a fishmonger that Humphries visits Saturday morning for his oysters. He did so Saturday after having too much beer on Friday night. Humphries also swears by oysters as being “the perfect hangover cure.”
Fishmonger Gareth Horner, whose grandfather started the business in 1936, has worked at his Rawle & Co. business for 30 years and has sold thousands of oysters. He reports that he’s never heard of one containing a pearl.
This is a first, claims Horner. His father, who has been in the business longer than him has also never seen this type of pearl discovery before.
According to Paul Cox of the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, “it’s extremely rare for pearls to come from the wild,” as most pearls are cultivated or come from pearl oysters. Cox called Humphries “an extremely lucky man.”
The pearl that Humphries found is so rare, that Heather Bell of Newquay’s Little Gem Jewelers said it is hard to put a price on it because of its rarity. Since James has no intention of selling his find, it’s priceless to him!
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