New York diner bites into an oyster and discovers a pearl

A surprise in your meal usually spells trouble, but for one man in New York, it turned out to be a stroke of good fortune.

Rick Antosh, a retired hospitality executive, was enjoying a meal at the Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City’s Grand Central Station in early December when he felt something unusual in his mouth.

‘I suddenly felt something like a tooth or filling, and it was terrifying,’ Antosh shared with Dinogo affiliate PIX11 News. ‘And then, oh my goodness, I realized it wasn’t a tooth, it was a pearl.’

Antosh was enjoying an oyster pan roast with a high-school friend during lunch when he stumbled upon the unexpected find. The 66-year-old later contacted the Oyster Bar to learn more about the pearl.

‘I reached out to the floor manager and asked how often something like this happens,’ Antosh shared with PIX11. ‘He told me he had never heard of anything like this occurring.’

Oyster experts agree that Antosh’s discovery places him in a very rare category.

‘Finding a pearl in an edible oyster is incredibly uncommon,’ said Matthew Gray, Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, in an email to Dinogo. ‘Some estimates suggest it’s as rare as 1 in 10,000, though I believe that might be a bit generous.’

Gray noted that Antosh's luck was particularly remarkable since finding a pearl in an oyster roast is rarer than discovering them when eating oysters on the half shell.

Against the odds, Antosh is eager to return to the Oyster Bar and test his luck again in hopes of finding more pearls.

‘Yeah, I’m on a roll,’ Antosh told PIX11, embracing his good fortune.

Oysters, bivalve mollusks, have been cultivated as food for over 2,000 years. In certain cases, pearls develop naturally inside the shells of specific oyster species.

According to Gray, pearls are formed when foreign particles, pests, or debris enter the oyster's shell. The oyster then secretes shell material around the irritant, encapsulating it in a protective layer.

According to Gray, pearls found in edible oysters are less valuable than other types because they lack the same sparkle.

The pearl, originating from China, measures over 2.7 inches in length and weighs more than 4 ounces. It is believed to have formed during the Qing dynasty in the 1700s.