A farm worker in Devon has discovered what she believes to be a “one-in-a-billion” spherical egg.
Alison Greene, who has worked as an egg handler on Fenton Farm near the Somerset border for three years and handled more than 42m eggs, said she had never found a round one before.
The 57-year-old now plans to send it to auction in Exeter in March with the proceeds going to the Devon Rape Crisis charity.
Discussing the moment she found the egg in December, Greene said: “It was really surprising because they roll in a specific way and this one just didn’t – it just stood out.
“It’s now something that nobody else has. Elon Musk hasn’t got a round egg has he?”
Greene added: “Hopefully, it will sell for a lot of money.”
Brian Goodison-Blanks, an auctioneer at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood Auctioneers based in Exeter, said: “Spherical chicken eggs are quite unusual and there have been people that have paid north of £100 and sometimes £200 for them.”
Last month, a spherical hen’s egg that a man spontaneously bought after a few pints sold at auction in Berkshire for £200.
Ed Pownell, from Lambourn in Berkshire, shelled out £150 for the egg and then donated it to the Iuventas Foundation, a charity that provides mentoring, life coaching and mental health support to young people across Oxfordshire.
The rarity was originally discovered by a woman who found it in a box from her local supermarket in Ayr, Scotland. The charity thought the donation “was a joke” initially before putting it up for sale.
Roz Rapp, from the foundation, told the BBC at the time: “We’re delighted and thrilled the egg sold as it means we can continue to do what we are doing.”
In 2015, a spherical chicken egg sold for £480 on eBay. Kim Broughton found that one of her hens – which was subsequently renamed Ping Pong – had laid it in her garden in Latchingdon, Essex. She auctioned the egg in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
