Man Finds Pearl While Eating Oysters

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WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - It's not often that a person orders a plate of fried oysters and walks away with a souvenir. But that's exactly what happened to Mike McHenry, of Washington Township, on Wednesday night when he thought he had chomped down on a piece of shell and instead spit out a pea-sized pearl. "You might break your teeth on it if you crunch down too hard," McHenry, 60, told The Express-Times of Easton, Pa., about his discovery at Russo's Ristorante in the Warren County township. McHenry's find was a rare one, according to Gef Flimlin, a marine extension agent with Rutgers Cooperative Extension, who said 95 percent of pearls are cultured for production, unlike the naturally formed pearl McHenry found. "It's unusual to find one in this type of oyster," McHenry said. "Like one in a million." Russo's owner Rick Giacobbe has been in the restaurant business for 33 years, but said this is the first time he's had a customer find a pearl in an order of oysters. He said the guy he orders seafood from is flummoxed too. "He said maybe once in a couple of years his girls will find something and it's a teeny tiny thing," Giacobbe said. "This was half the size of a jellybean." Greg Fliegauf, who managers the local Fliegauf Jewelers for his uncle, examined Giacobbe's pearl, and thought it wasn't worth much because it's misshapen and has some discoloration. "It's a souvenir - I'll put on my bar, maybe," McHenry said.