"quahog pearl"

Melissa Bailey of Bailey Jewelers says I need to insure the 13 - 14 mm clam pearl for thousands of dollars before we send it to be properly appraised, at a cost of $300.

About two months ago, I took the pearl to Melissa with a request for her to design a silver ring to showcase the colors and shape of the pearl. She knows I like simple, and she did herself and the pearl proud. Really proud.

So, I Googled clam pearls and learned a lot, especially that Melissa was not kidding when she said the pearl is very valuable. The lustrous pearl measured 13 - 14 mm when Melissa's sister Jennifer put the calipers on it. It's round, with a slightly convex bottom and a dome top. The center of the top is shiny pearly white, which turns lilac near the bottom, then becomes purple at the largest diameter edge.

My brother Dick and I think Daddy pulled the pearl out of a clam he dug from the bottom of Chincoteague Bay when we were children--sometime between 1955 and 1965. For all these years, it's been safely kept in a glass cabinet. We had no idea we had a rare and valuable gem in the living room.

Anyone got any potentially helpful information?