Pearl found in clam - worth?

[Newbie2014]

Hello! I'm new here and heard this is the place to post to try to obtain some information on found pearls.

My mom was eating clams for lunch, felt something hard between her teeth and it turns out it was a small pearl!

We're wondering a few things:
- Could it be worth anything?
- Does finding one mean anything (ex: luck in the future)
- What are the chances of finding a pearl in a clam?

Any info/opinions would be greatly appreciated!

Here is some info about it (*we did not clean it):
- partially smooth, partially gritty
- my mom thinks the clams were called "Middle-Neck Clams" and were purchased at our local grocery store, Shoprite
- photos of pearl against white paper towel are attached. I used natural light, but the color in person looks a tda but lighter
- photo of the pearl and ruler attached

Thank you!
Newbie2014

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Depending on the part of the world you live, littleneck clam is used to describe a variety of small "steamer" clams.

On the west coast, Littleneck aka Native Littleneck is the name given to Protothaca staminea, which are not normally commercially available for restaurants. I suspect your mom was dining on Manila Clams (Venerupus philipinarium). Delicious.

We very often get new posters here at P-G who have found pearls in clams, but mainly Quahogs (Mercenaria mercenaria)

While those pearls are common, pearls from littlenecks are actually considered rare/uncommon. That said, the value is in the story. Clam pearls tend to contain large amounts of calcite, which take away from the lustre of a pearl. Cooking doesn't help much either, as it removes much of the protein from the outer surface.

It's a lucky find, a fun story and nice keepsake.

 

[Newbie2014]

Thanks for the response!

Ps: We live on the East coast-- NJ

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I'm in CT and we also see littleneck clams for sale here.

From Wikipedia article about hard clams:
"In fish markets there are specialist names for different sizes of this species of clam. The smallest legally harvestable clams are called countnecks, next size up are littlenecks, then topnecks. Above that are the cherrystones, and the largest are called quahogs or chowder clams.[SUP][4]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_clam[/SUP]