Jokers are itching to get hold of rare powder
Thursday 16 August 2012
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It is selling for up to 10 times the price of gold, yet nobody, presumably, would want it near them. The world's rarest itching powder has fetched prices of up to £73.99 for a tenth of a gram on eBay as connoisseurs of the practical joke battle to outbid each other, in a contest that is proving lucrative for the owner of Dinsdale's Famous Joke and Trick Shop in Hull.
George Dinsdale bought up the world's supply of E Series Itching Powder, made from jungle plant extracts, in Africa in the 1930s. It is advertised as being "worse than a cartload of fleas". Now the current owner, Mr Dinsdale's great-nephew Graham Williams, is auctioning the powder online, and prices have rocketed.
The formula for E Series powder has been lost in time but an analysis suggested the main ingredient was a poisonous creeper, Mucuna pruriens, found in tropical regions.
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