Pair of Melons Sold for $15,000

We're in the middle of a global recession, but no-one seems to have told one wealthy fruit buyer in Tokyo; they snapped up a pair of prestigious cantaloupe melons on Friday for the princely sum of 1.6m yen - $15,730 (£10,451).

The Yubari King is a hybrid of two other cantaloupe cultivars: Earl's Favourite and Burpee's "Spicy" Cantaloupe, and is farmed in greenhouses in Yūbari, Hokkaidō, a small town close to Sapporo. They are often presented as gifts, but we'd be surprised if this 3.7kg stunner was given away; we'd be more likely to put it in a bank vault.

Fruit is expensive in general in Japan, with a presentation pack of 20 cherries retailing for $100, but this surely takes the biscuit in the high-end fruit stakes.

The purchase, at an auction on the first day of the season for the watery beauties is, in fact, only the third most expensive pair of melons on record, with 2.5m yen being paid in 2008, and 2m yen in 2007.

It's a good job they sell them in pairs, otherwise one on its own could get a little melon-choly.

[via NYDailyNews]

Image: Shuttershock