An on-line bidding war has erupted for an apple with a skin blemish that experts say could be an exactly depiction of Jesus Christ's anal sphincter.
Budding Brisbane entrepreneur and northside panel beater Simon Thong has watched with increasing bemusement as the bidding war has reached $112,500 in just the five days since he bought the apple as a lunchtime snack at his local Coles supermarket.
"I was just about to hoe into the fruit when I saw the image and exclaimed: 'Holy shit!'," he said.
Thong, of Banyo, said he knew straight away that he had in the palm of his hand a holy sign - but of what exactly? And from whom?
A staunch Catholic, Thong told The Bug: "As soon as I saw it, I thought maybe that it was the Pope's ring staring back at me.
"But a strange spiritual feeling came over me and I just knew that it was a sign from an even higher power than that."
Mr Thong took photos of the image and sent them away to the curator of medieval art at the National Gallery in Canberra, asking whether it was possible that the image was indeed the anal sphincter of the Son of God, our Saviour Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
"They told me that as far as they knew, no artist in history had ever painted Christ's back passage, at least not in any great detail.
"So I said to them: 'So you can't rule out the possibility that the image is exactly how JC's arsehole would have looked when the great man lived on this planet 2000 years ago?'
"And they replied: 'Of course we can't', and I knew straight away I had in my possession a religious icon that could very well prove priceless."
The Bug has since shown the photos to a senior horticulturalist with the Department of Primary Industries, who exclaimed immediately on seeing the images: "Oh my God. It's an arsehole!" to which we replied: "Close, apparently."
The expert said the image on the apple could have resulted from heat stress or insect damage prior to harvesting, or from damage at some point in the marketing chain.
"But it certainly does look like an arsehole, I'll give you that," he said.
