Pearl Found in $14.75 Lunch Could Be Worth Thousands

Rick Antosh ordered his usual at New York City's Grand Central Oyster Bar on Dec. 5, but on that particular day, his lunch came with something a little extra: a pea-sized pearl. Antosh got the $14.75 pan roast, which the New York Post describes as a stew-like dish that comes with six Blue Point oysters, and as he was eating, he felt something odd in his mouth. "For a fraction of a second, there was terror," Antosh recalls. "Is it a tooth; is it a filling?"

Once he saw what it actually was, he took it home initially without telling the restaurant he'd found it. He later called to tell staff, and the executive chef said that in 28 years, this is only the second time he knows of that a diner has found a pearl. Antosh hasn't had his prize appraised yet, but an expert says that even with its imperfections, it could be worth up to $4,000. (Oysters can also be deadly.)