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Nothing brings happiness like a perfect pair of $15,730 melons. Mind out of the gutter. We’re talking about two prized cantaloupes.
Two Yubari melons sold at auction in Japan on Friday for $15,730 (1.6 million yen). It marked one of the highest prices ever paid for the fruit, more than doubling the $6,000 a Japanese man paid for a 17-pound Densuke watermelon back in 2008. Although, the price was lower than the record $23,500 bid for a pair of Yubari cantaloupes also in 2008.
The 8.1 pound melons were auctioned at a high-end fruit sale in the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market in northern Hokkaido. The auction took place on the first day of the season for the coveted cantaloupe.
In a fruit-scarce country where a pack of 20 cherries retails for $100, the hybrid breed of Yubari melon is considered a status symbol, much like a fine wine or scotch. The buyers often purchase the fruits to present to colleagues as gifts.
So next time you stab into a juicy melon, think twice. You may be destroying the produce equivalent of a 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux.
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