Egg prices may rise in the winter, but few would expect an egg to fetch nearly 70,000 rupees (200 British pounds) at an auction. A perfectly round chicken egg recently achieved this rare feat, making headlines for both its uniqueness and its charitable cause.
The egg, purchased by Ed Pownall from Lambourn, Berkshire, was bought for £150 before being donated to the Iuventas Foundation, a charity that provides life coaching and mental health support to young people in Oxfordshire. After considering the unusual nature of the egg, the charity decided to auction it off, raising £200 for a good cause.
The money will go toward mental health initiatives for young people aged 13 to 25, with the foundation hopeful that the funds will allow them to continue offering essential services to those in need.
The egg’s rarity is no surprise—experts estimate the chance of a chicken laying a perfectly round egg to be about 1 in 1 billion. Similar discoveries have been made in Australia, including a perfectly round egg found in an Inner-Melbourne Woolworths.
Pownall, who was the initial buyer, expressed satisfaction with the purchase, telling the BBC, “Money well spent.”