A struggling Thai man has found a rare Melo pearl potentially worth thousands of pounds in his dinner.

Paint shop owner Amorn Prakongkwan, 54, discovered the precious jewel inside a snail he had bought to eat for lunch on March 23.

Amorn said he had purchased seven snails weighing two kilos from a street vendor to munch on while drinking liquor with friends.

After cleaning and boiling the shelled creatures, he found a mysterious round orange object that had fallen into his pot.

He threw it into a bin, thinking it was worthless rubbish, but later retrieved it for a closer examination when he recalled it could be a pearl.

He checked with his friends and they believed that the object was a very rare Melo pearl, highly sought after by jewellery collectors.

Amorn sent the pearl to the Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand, a government department, which reported that the 10.33-carat pearl was indeed authentic.

A thrilled Amorn said: 'I have regularly bought and eaten several hundred Melo volutes, but I've never discovered a pearl in them until now.

'I will keep it as a lucky charm but if someone offers to buy for a good price, then I may have to sell and spend the money on a new car.'

Melo pearls are formed by the Melo melo sea snail and are considered extremely rare because only a small percentage of the molluscs produce them. They are typically light yellow to orange to brown in hue, with orange pearls fetching the highest price.

Amorn's Melo pearl could sell for around 12,600 GBP based on previous prices. Similar pearls have sold for around (£1,226) per carat, giving the item a value of around 12,600 GBP.

The lucky local said he has not yet settled on a price tag yet, and will put it up for sale once he decides its value, though he said he is hoping for one million Thai baht (23,500 GBP).

Experts said the stone's value is as much as someone would be willing to pay - but market prices could be thousands of dollars per carat, depending on the quality. Similar pearls are selling for $1,700 (£1,226) per carat.