Lucky diner finds over 50 pearls in one oyster

A Tennessee diner found multiple pearls in her oyster lunch. (iStock)

A very lucky Tennessee woman found 51 pearls while enjoying a meal of fried oysters.

Toni Elliott was dining at Puckett’s Boat House in Franklin last Thursday when she noticed something unusual in her fried oyster lunch.

“She put an oyster in her mouth and pulled out a pearl,” server Eric Horton told WKRN news.

While finding one pearl in an oyster destined for the dinner plate is not that uncommon—what happened next shocked Elliott and dining staff. As she continued to dine, Elliott continued to find pearl after pearl in her very last oyster.

“The manager of the restaurant came over and said, ‘I hear you got a pearl in your oyster.’ I said, ‘Well I’m up to ten so far,’” Elliott told WKRN.

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Horton brought his customer a bucket and helped her keep track. Elliott says she has eaten thousands of oysters in her life and has found just two or three ever. Puckett's says they serve only fresh ocean caught oysters-- none that are farm-raised.

“I’m one of the longer tenured people here, so having seen that, being a part of that is pretty cool,” Horton told the news station.

The pearls found in Elliott’s lunch were not the shiny variety typically associated with fine jewelry but the little gems could still be worth a few dollars. Elliott says she will likely just keep them as a souvenir

“It was very unusual,” Elliot said with a smile. While she has no plans to cut back on oysters, Elliott may want to chow down a little slower next time, just in case.