Valuable porcupine date worth over RM110,000

BAHAU, Negeri Sembilan: A resident in Bahau accidentally removed a fresh porcupine date from a porcupine last week. A buyer from Johor Bahru was willing to pay RM110,000 for it but the owner just refused to sell. This porcupine date weighs 170 grams. As its size is unusually big, it therefore fetches a very high price.

Since the resident refuses to publicise his finding, he has been trying very hard to keep a low profile on this extraordinary porcupine date.

Relieving pain and inflammation
Li Wan Long, a traditional Chinese medical practitioner in Bahau, said during an interview with Sin Chew Daily that porcupine dates were considered a type of Chinese medicine. Due to their powerful curative effects and rarity, they are usually priced extremely high, and porcupine date can cost between RM600 and RM700 a gram.

He said porcupine dates were very effective in relieving pain and inflammation, especially among pregnant women and post-surgery patients.

In addition, porcupine dates also help prevent cardiovascular diseases and cancers.
It has been reported that a buyer from Johor Bahru intended to acquire the porcupine date for RM110,000 but the owner refused to sell it because he believed the offered price did not match the actual value of the porcupine date.

Li said porcupine dates were very rare and hard to get, therefore a porcupine date weighing more than a hundred grams was a truly rare find.

According to him, when porcupines are suffering from illnesses or injuries, they will look for herbs in the forest for self-healing, and these herbs will accumulate around the stones formed inside their bodies to become porcupine dates.

He said even if porcupine dates might be a burden to the animals, they were a much treasured formulation for traditional medical practitioners.

Attracting frauds
He said due to the exorbitant prices these porcupine dates fetched, there were irresponsible tradesmen selling fraudulent dates to make money.

He said six months ago an Indonesian man and his son brought some porcupine dates here to sell, and they were beaten up by the people at a hotel in Johor Bahru after it was discovered that they were selling fraudulent porcupine dates.

He lamented that many hunters failed to check the bodies of porcupines for the dates, adding that fresh porcupine dates could deteriorate in quality if they were not properly handled. (Translated by LIM LIY EE/Sin Chew Daily)