Barbara Krensavage was trying to satisfy a craving for clams casino this month when she went to a seafood restaurant, the Providence Journal reports. She bought nearly 50 live quahogs, which her husband Ted began to shuck.

The color inside one of the mollusks looked rotten and Ted was about to throw it out when a closer look revealed the rare purple pearl.

Experts say one in one in 100,000 quahog clams have pearls and one in 20 of those are gem quality.

Author and pearl expert Antoinette Matlins said the true value of the Krensavage's pearl won't be known until an auction of a brooch owned by Newport, RI, antique dealer Alan Golash.

It features two large purple pearls and cost $14 at an antique shop.

It is now in a pearl exhibit traveling the world and may sell for $1 million.