Pearl found in birthday meal set in necklace

A jeweller has turned a pearl that a woman’s partner found in a bowl of mussels at her birthday dinner into a pendant.

Paige Hawkins’ partner found the pearl in his meal while they were celebrating at The Quayside restaurant in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, earlier this year.

Kevin Bassam, a West Midlands jeweller, contacted Ms Hawkins after hearing her story on BBC radio and offered to make the pearl into a piece of jewellery for free.

“We were just so blown away by the offer,” said Ms Hawkins, from Kidderminster.

Mr Bassam, of K Bassam Jewellers, contacted Ms Hawkins via the restaurant after hearing about the pearl on BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester.

“I thought to myself, 'this is a great story, I would like to be involved',” he said.

Mr Bassam said natural pearls, which are formed over many years when a piece of organic matter gets into a shellfish’s shell, were very rare.

He added most jewellery used cultured pearls, where humans place a bead inside a shell and then farm the resulting stones.

“So that makes it more special - and the backstory [of how it was found] makes it even more special,” he said.

Ms Hawkins said she was delighted with the pendant that Mr Bassam had designed.

“It was even better than I imagined, it’s so beautiful,” she said.

“I haven’t taken it off.”

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