HIGH PRICES FOR EGGS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 5 February 1936, Page 8

HIGH PRICES FOR EGGS.

Hen auk eggs, said to be the most valuable in the world, each worth its weight in gold, recently arrived at Harvard University, says the "NewYork Times." This collection was the bequest of th© late Colonel J. E. Thayer, and is now being made ready for study by the curator of ornithology, as each of these rarities has a most interesting history, in sorae instances the specimens have been the property of other famous museums. Their average value is about £3OO each.

In one drawer in the museum are now eleven eggs of th o extinct auk one having already been given t 0 the university by the head of the Department of Zoology at Harvard, Dr. Wiliham Barbour, some years ago.

There are said to be about s?v o -it.y throe auk eggs in existence, seventyone of them having bee.i photographed, by the expert, Edward Bidwell. Prior to the great auction h-jid in Oovent Gardens, London, ki-st .iti'iimn, notice was sent to the various private cciloctors and museums, aiid a pamphlet, prepared by Thom.v: Parkin, F.L.S. giving a short history of the great auk ,or garefowl (Alci impemiis, Luin.), was made available to the bidders.

( Eggs that were en?':cl or brokenbrought a mere «10.\ ]} u t a choice specimen, such as that discovered bv Professor Alfred Ncwtoti in a box of ten auk eggs at the Koya! (\L'oge of Surgeons, where it had lain for fortyyears, "was at once .snapped up be a private who willingly raid £3OO for it.

Perhaps the most interesting of hJ> the famous eggs in the new Harvard collection is the one that was origin.-illy picked up by a schoolboy named Wallace Hewitt for a few shillings. He found it at an auction in Kent.