We all know much valuable commodities such as gold and other precious stones can cost but it’s not everyday that one stumbles on a huge chunk of gold that can make them a millionaire overnight. So what can an ordinary farmer do to earn a half a million dollars from his cattle?
Astonishingly, all he has to do is dig deep into his pig’s insides and pull out an unusual commodity that has a higher selling price per kilo than gold itself! No, we’re not talking about the golden egg from the famous children’s story. Continue reading to find out how a farmer found an unusual object inside his pig’s gallbladder that made him £450,000 richer in seconds.
Bo Chunlou, 51
What is Pig’s Gallstone Used for?
The medicine industry in China has been using animal gallstones and bile acid as major components of expensive but effective oriental drugs. Asian medicine believes that some of the rarest animal byproducts can often act as cure for diseases. Unusual commodities such as snake venom and rhinoceros’ horns are given great importance by doctors in the East and considered as the elixir of life.
Gallstones often occur due to an inflammation in the pig’s gall bladder or the bile duct and are considered as a substance that can relieve stress and soothe headaches. Gallstones can often be collected in the shape of a pyramid or hen’s egg and weigh around 100 grams.
The commercial value of cattle gallstone can be quite significant and can be sold for more than $30,000 per kilo, making this strange commodity as valuable as gold. Gallstones are extremely rare and often comprise of indigestible matter stored in a pig’s gastrointestinal system. This ‘pig treasure’, also called bezoar, is popularly used in Chinese medicine and can be purchased on various ecommerce platforms including Alibaba. This substance can also be bought in powdered form and used for its medicinal properties.
How One Villager Stumbled on a Pot of Gold?
The £450,000-worth unusual object inside the pig’s gallbladder
One Chinese villager stumbled on a pot of gold – or should we say, gallstones – after slaughtering his sow and finding something strange in its gallbladder. Bo Chunlou, a 51-year-old farmer who owns a farm in China’s Rizhao City, discovered a gallstone the size of a large egg inside his 550lb pig.
Initially, Chunlou had no idea what the strange-looking object was or if it had any value. After showing the stone to his neighbor who told him that the rare substance was extremely precious, Chunlou realized that he could actually become rich by selling his pig treasure. The farmer said that when the neighbor first told him that the gallstone had great medicinal value, he didn’t believe him. He had never heard of cattle byproducts being used to make medicine; to him, the idea seemed too absurd to be true.
A Millionaire in a Matter of Seconds
Unsure about the true value of pig’s gallstone, Chunlou traveled to all the major Chinese cities with his son to get an appraisal from professionals. After spending almost $5,000 on the appraisal process, they finally got the best news of their lives when they were told that the 4-inch long piece of gallstone was worth a whopping £450,000!
After getting an appraisal certificate from Shanghai for his precious pig treasure, Chunlou decided to start a bidding process for it with a starting price of £112,120. The gallstone eventually sold for half a million pounds which is almost 4,000,000 Chinese yuan. After accidentally stumbling upon such a large fortune, the lucky villager and his family have become millionaires overnight. Finding gallstones in cattle is one of the best ways to become a millionaire and the chances of finding this rare commodity are far more than winning a lottery.
An Australian thief definitely knew how much these small brown stones are worth, which is why he decided to steal them from a farmer in hope of making thousands of dollars. But not all objects found inside the gastrointestinal system of the animals are as valuable as the gallstone.
