Priceless Relics

Well, there is one born every minute. 

Likely a host of those who would venture to pay handsomely for something truly unique; a discard by a celebrity or by some member of royalty.  Something so mundane, so irrelevant, so impossibly slight it is hardly worth a second thought, yet because there is presumed to be some connection, however transitory, with a celebrated figure, it assumes great potential.

And so it was that British auctioneers Hansons, undertook to put on the bidding heap a scrap of toast purportedly left over from Prince Charles' wedding day breakfast.  Over thirty years old, that bit of toasted bread would be dry and brittle and rather unattractive.  But because of its presumed source, it assumes the proportion of desirability. 

Prop it up in a silver salver, under a glass dome, and a printed explanation.  Yours for the less than princely sum of $365.  Which is what it fetched at auction.  "At the time my daughter was a maid at the palace, and one of her duties was to collect Prince Charles' breakfast tray from outside his room", explained Rosemarie Smith whose daughter had worked for the royal family for 30 years.

"I was with her in the corridor and saw that Prince Charles had left some toast on the tray.  I had been thinking about a keepsake from the wedding and saw the toast and thought to myself: 'Why not?'"  And the bit of toasted bread was maintained by this connoisseur on a shelf in a cup for almost thirty years.  Until she decided to test the auction waters.

"I just wandered into the auctioneers out of curiosity and asked them if it was worth anything.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear them agree with me that it could be of quite some value to royal collectors."  Gambling, doubtless, on the gullibility factor. 

No matter, the woman claimed its provenance to be that of Prince Charles' wedding breakfast and her claim was taken on trust. After all, there is such national pride in the royal family and their service to the country. 

Who wouldn't love to have a bit of dry toast in a premier place in their home proudly displaying their loyalty and love of country? 

For a mere $365 and suspension of intelligence?