Woman Bites Down On Rare Pearl Worth $600 While Out To Dinner

ISSAQUAH, Wash. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Pacific Northwest woman found a rare pearl, estimated at about $600, in her Italian dinner.

Lindsay Hasz and her husband Chris were eating at Montalcino Ristorante Italiano in Issaquah, Washington, recently when she bit into something hard in her entree of clams and other seafood.

Hasz says she wasn't sure what it was but put it in her pocket and went home to do research.

"It was quite jarring," she told a local TV station. "In fact, I thought I almost broke my tooth it was so hard."

She took it to a gemologist, who determined it was a Quahog purple pearl worth about $600.

Ted Irwin of Northwest Geological Laboratory says the find is rare, with only one in a couple million being of gem quality.

Montalcino owner Cindy Nardone says she's happy for Hasz.

Hasz says she may have the pearl made into a necklace.

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