David Larocque found a Quahog Pearl

by David
(Oakville, CT)

My wife and I were shopping at Adam's grocery store in Watertown CT. yesterday {8/21/2001] and bought a 10 Lb. bag of Cherrystone clams. We went home and started preparing the meal we planned which was Cherrystones dipped in a butter, shallot, garlic mixture along with twice baked potato and Fillet Mignon. We sat down to a dinner that in my opinion was meant for a king and began to eat. I bit into one of the clams and felt something hard inside. At first I thought it was a piece of shell but my tongue felt the smoothness of it and I instantly thought that it may be a tooth. I took it out and began feeling around my mouth with my tongue and did not find any spaces that were not there before and therefore surmised that it was a pearl. My wife stated "Pearls only come in oysters", It must be a tooth". Checked again. "No way" I told my wife. "It's a pearl". The debate brought us to the PC and we began our search on the internet. We found this site and to our amazement we also found out it is a pearl and could be worth something. It is not a perfect shape. Looks more like a canine tooth. Rounding down to a point. It is kind of flat on one side with a crease and rounded on the other. It is off white and purple in color. It measured lengthwise 10 mm. We are wondering at this time as to whether to put it in a setting or see what it is worth as is. Any help in this area would be appreciated.