Finding just one rare Melo pearl can be like winning the lottery – after all, a single pearl can fetch as much as $500,000! One fisherman, though, found one in the strangest of places: his dinner plate! Now, he’s finally able to give his family the life he always wanted.
Rare Melo Pearl In His Lunch
Of course, few of us ever expect to become right. However, 40-year-old crab fisherman Prasarnphon Phunwan from Thailand honestly never expected to find a windfall of cash – certainly not on his dinner plate. When he found and caught a big sea snail while out in Prachuap Khiri Khan, Phunwan took it home, ready to cook it into a delicious meal. After boiling the snail, the fisherman started to slice it up. However, as he did, his knife brushed over something hard. At first, Phunwan didn’t think much of his shiny discovery. Still, the pearl’s interesting color kept nagging at the fisherman, who eventually went to his younger brother for advice. After a quick search on the internet, Phunwan’s younger sibling realized he might have found an expensive Melo pearl.
Soon enough, Phunwan confirmed that yet, it was a Melo pearl! The fisherman now feels his family has finally found luck through the treasure. “My family had been fishing for generations but I believe our fate is about to change because of my lunch,” he said afterward. While Phuwan cannot sell the pearl just yet, but they can once the officers from the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources and the local fisheries department check the authenticity of the pearl. Meanwhile, the fisherman and his whole family have been keeping a close eye on the treasure…
Fisherman’s Fortune
While the family has kept a close eye on the pearl, they have not stopped many neighbors from seeing the find. Phuwan has allowed friends to gather on the house porch to see the pearl. And he’s even received some offers for it already! However, Phuwan wants to wait until the officials to check it and put the price on it. Since it’s so rare, he doesn’t want someone to lowball him. “We know that the pearl is expensive so we want to give it to the person at the right price after it has been checked,” the fisherman said.
So why are Melo pearls the most expensive pearls on Earth? Well, the predatory sea snails Volutidae create them, making them hard to find. After all, not only are they predators, but they are pretty rare, only found in the waters off of Myanmar and Thailand. Which explains why this is not the first time that a Thailand citizen has made a ton of money from a rare pearl. Last year, down-on-their-luck fisherman and brothers Hatchai Niyomdecha, 37, and Worachat Niyomdecha, 35, found a fantastic pearl on an abandoned buoy. You can learn more about their incredible story by clicking “Next Post” below!
Sources: Good News Network, Yahoo!