(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) A Chinese duck, to be specific.
A Chinese duck that lives near the Chenshui River in central China, to be even more specific.
You’ve heard of the goose that laid the golden egg? Well, it’s got nothing on the duck. And the duck was real.
No, I haven’t quacked up.
A farmer named Liu from Longhui county, Hunan province, found gold particles inside the stomach of a duck he slaughtered. A burning test confirmed the particles were, in fact, gold, weighing around 10 grams. The gold is valued at around 12,000 yuan ($1,800).
According to an article published by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the duck was raised free-range near the river, which was once known for gold mining. The duck likely ingested mud containing the gold particles.
I know. This seems far-fetched. But Liu said he’s not the first villager to find gold in a duck’s belly. However, nobody has ever retrieved this much metal from a duck gut.
According to the SCMP, this isn’t nearly as strange as it probably sounds to you. During the Tang dynasty (618-907), farmers regularly collected gold particles from the feces of ducks and geese.
First, eww.
But on second thought, if you could pick money out of poop, wouldn’t you do it?
A spokesperson for the Longhui County Natural Resources Bureau said that while further testing was necessary to confirm the find, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. He noted that villagers collected around 10 grams of gold while washing sand by the same river last year.
There was a pretty significant gold rush along the Chenshui River in the 70s and 80s until the government banned private mining.
Under Chinese law, the state owns all underground resources, including gold. I would worry about the duck being prosecuted for illegal mining, but since he’s already dead, I guess it doesn’t matter.
Meanwhile, Liu’s father told the South China Post that finding gold inside a duck was a sign of good luck for the year ahead.
Or here’s a thought: that was the good luck for the year.
The news has some folks contemplating duck farming in China. One poster on social media proclaimed, “I need to know the exact location of this river within a day. I want to raise 1,000 ducks there.”
I get it. But let’s get real. You’re probably not going to make much money raising ducks to mine gold. It’s kind of like panning for gold. It sounds fun. And it might be, for a day. But it’s actually very hard work and generally doesn’t generate a big payoff.
Still, the story underscores the excitement of finding gold – even if it’s inside a dead animal mixed with poo! People all over the world recognize the value of gold. They know it’s worth having, and they’ll go to extreme lengths to get it.
But there is an easier way. Just peruse MoneyMetals.com while you’re here, and you’ll find all kinds of gold products, from bullion coins to bars to jewelry. We even have some bargains.
Or if you have questions, you can call 800-800-1865 and talk with a Money Metals precious metals specialist. Trust me, it’s a lot easier than sticking your hand in duck guts.
Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.
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