Zesty Bidding War for 285-Year-Old Lemon Results in $1,800 Sale
Typically, finding a nearly 300-year-old lemon in a piece of antique furniture would leave a sour taste in your mouth. Not to mention being a rather disgusting sight. But Brettells Auctioneers & Valuers, the auction house in Newport, England, that discovered the brown but well-preserved fruit tucked away in a cabinet decided to turn the lemon into lemonade, so to speak, selling the “antique” fruit for – pucker up! – $1,800 at auction in January.
“We thought we’d have a bit of fun and put [the lemon] in the auction with an estimate of 40-60 pounds [$50-$75],” auctioneer David Brettell said. “You’ll never see an object like this at auction again.”
The 285-year-old fruit was a deep-brown color but remarkably intact and attracted 35 bidders at auction. The lemon was discovered in a drawer of a 19th-century cabinet brought into the auction house by a family who said it belonged to a deceased uncle.
So, how was the auction house able to determine the age of the lemon? The lemon was carved with the words: “Given by Mr P Lu Franchini Nov 4 1739 to Miss E Baxter.”
The date would mean the lemon preceded the American Revolutionary War by 36 years. It is, to say the least, highly unusual for food to survive three centuries. Typically, you can store a lemon on a counter for up to a week before it goes bad. Lemons kept in cooler areas, away from heat, will last about two weeks. If you decide to store your lemons in the fridge, they can last a maximum of four to six weeks, USCitrus.com says.
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4 responses to “Zesty Bidding War for 285-Year-Old Lemon Results in $1,800 Sale”
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When my grandfather was a little boy, his grandfather was on his way to bring him the gift of an orange. Before he reached the door, the old man dropped dead. The family kept the orange for 100 years. It was in my mother’s possession and she kept it in a small cloisonné jar. I love the story of the dried up old orange and I would have kept it for as long as I lived.
My sister was living at home for a time. She needed to sell some of her things and invited a few antique buyers to come look at them. Everything that was for sale was on the dining room table. The cloisonné jar was on a shelf along one wall. One of those people took the jar. When they got home with what they had stolen, I’m sure they just threw out what they found inside. I was an antique dealer for more than 50 years. I met with a great deal of prejudice because of dishonest people like the one who stole our heirloom.
Many years later, I found another cloisonné jar at an estate sale. (I paid for it.) I let an orange dry up and put it in the jar. I keep it as a memento of that other orange and the grandfather whose gift was lovingly saved as a remembrance of him.
I would love to know the story behind the giver and receiver of that lemon. It sounds like the Baseline for a good movie.
It’s like we’ve all been saying for years, they made things to last back then. LOL
As long as it doesn’t start to get moldy, a citrus fruit will dry up rock hard and be preserved indefinitely, like this lemon was. At that time lemons were still fairly exotic and expensive things, so this was a special gift, like giving a dozen roses. It’s not surprising that she wanted to keep it as a love token. The amazing thing is that it was still in the drawer. I’m guessing the uncle must have picked it up somewhere in the 20th century as a curiosity and put it in the drawer.