285-Year-Old Lemon Sold at Auction

A lemon that was ripe when George Washington was a child fetched $1,780 at an auction in the UK. Auctioneers didn't have any problem establishing that the fruit was 285 years old: It was inscribed with the message "Given By Mr P Lu Franchini Nov 4 1739 to Miss E Baxter," UPI reports. The auction house listing described it as a "dried citrus."

It's not clear whether Miss Baxter kept the fruit as a keepsake or just didn't like lemons, but it was found in the bottom drawer of a 19th-century chest that a family brought to Brettells Auctioneers during a house clearance, saying it had belonged to a dead uncle. The auction house decided to sell the lemon as well as the chest, which worked out nicely for the family—the chest only fetched around $40, the BBC reports. (More auction stories.)