Clam Digger Find Fortune - 1901

NIEREL

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 1/9/2017 at 10:30:44

Dubuque Daily Herald, August 3, 1901

Clam Diggers Find Fortune
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Muscatine, Aug. 3. – I. Nierel & Son are the possessors of one of the very finest pearls yet found in the Mississippi. It is of a purple tint and weighs forty-one grams. The gem was found just above the city last Friday by a shell man and was purchased by the present owner for a neat sum. Though it was a bit worn on one side, Mr. Nierel has refused an offer of $1,000 for it. He considers $1,500 as mall price for such a treasure. A groove was worn in the shell where the pearl slid back and forth as the bivalve opened and closed. The shell and pearl are on exhibition at Nierel’s jewelry store.