Cats Eye Purple Pearl

by mary margaret A
(Angola ny erie)

On 8/20/09 I was enjoying 2 dozen raw clams at the Boston sea food and crab on Genesee Street in NY. I felt a small sliver of shell in my mouth so I was very carefully eating. The next cherry stone clam I also felt something so I decided to look at it. It looked like a black spot in the clam which is normal so I carefully began to eat it. Again I felt something and slowly placed it in my hand. It was round and looked black because the room we were in was dark. I thought it was a black pearl and showed my family and the waitress. I folded it into a napkin and placed it in my zippered pocket. When I got home and showed my children we discovered it was dark purple and light purple. I never knew pearls came in purple. Since that time I've discovered it's one in 2 million to find a pearl and I have had a gemologist verify that it is a pearl. It is 6 to 6.6 in size and the variation in color is due to incompleteness of one color to another causing this cats eye look. The value is in the "eye" of the beholder. I eat clams maybe twice a year and now my grandson wants them all the time; hoping to find a pearl. This has been great fun and plans are being made on what type of setting and what color gold.