The ancient citrus fruit was discovered in the bottom drawer of a 19th century chest salvaged during a house clearance.
The vendors were sorting through their uncle’s possessions and thought the cabinet may be valuable so they took it to an auctioneer.
The specialist found the decaying lemon in the back of the drawer while photographing the cabinet for the upcoming sale.
They were taken aback by an inscription that had been carved into the yellow zest dating it to 1739.
It states that the citrus was ‘given by Mr P Lu Franchini Nov 4 1739 to Miss E Baxter’.
It is thought the lemon may have been a bizarre love token and was brought back to England from colonial India. The 2ins wide lemon is brown and completely dried out but ‘remarkably well preserved’ and still maintaining its shape. The vendors had no idea it was in the cabinet.
Since it was so unusual ... Read even more
