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MASON CITY, Iowa — An Iowa woman has been reunited with an egg she autographed 72 years ago.
Mary Foss Starn, 92, of Forest City, signed the egg and included a message on it while working on an egg farm in Forest City in 1951, KCCI-TV reported.
“Whoever gets this egg, please write me. Miss Mary Foss, Forest City Iowa. April 2, 1951,” Starn wrote at the time, according to the television station.
Egg-citing story of Mary Foss Starn. An egg-cellent mystery cracked 72 years later. SEE PHOTOS #iowa #egg@SteveHartmanCBS @CBSNews @abcnews @NBCNews @GMA @TheTalkCBS @CBSThisMorning @katiecouric @globegazette @KIMTNews3 @ABC6NEWS @KWWL @kfxanews
— duchovlet (@duchovlet) August 19, 2023
FB post https://t.co/ruEWuNeDCU pic.twitter.com/4Z9JX3Hmgj
A man bought the egg, which was in a carton, at a New York City grocery store, and kept it for several decades, KCCI reported.
It wound up in the possession of John Amalfitano of New York City, who said he was given the egg while cleaning out the original owner’s home about 20 years ago, according to the television station.
“And the egg is still inside. It was never drained, like I said, it’s still got a little weight to it,” Amalfitano told KCCI. “It’s just like frozen in time.”
Amalfitano and a neighbor were unable to track down Starn until they posted about in a Facebook group called “Weird (and Wonderful) Secondhand Finds That Just Need To Be Shared.”
In his post, shared on Aug. 17, Amalfitano wrote, “Here’s something you don’t see everyday. It’s an egg, from 1951. (Egg is still inside, though petrified!)”
Iowan reunited with egg she signed more than 70 years ago https://t.co/dtwKgY9EAG
— KCRG-TV9 (@KCRG) August 25, 2023
“I’m guessing a shout-out from a young, Iowa egg farm worker, who dreamed of making exciting friends in far away cities,” Amalfitano wrote.
Members of the group did some detective work and cracked the mystery, locating Starn’s daughter, Jackie Ploeger. She put Amalfitano in touch with Starn in Mason City, Iowa, KCCI reported.
How did the egg survive for so long? It seems to be in eggs-celent shape, after all.
“I have no idea,” Ploeger told the television station.
“He had a good refrigerator,” Starn piped up, adding, “how could have it lasted that long?”
Starn now has another story to add to a lifetime of stories and now has a new friend. She is not surprised in the least.
“Not really. I’ve had a lot of big deals come up like that through your life, you have lots of things and it’s kind of fun when it does,” Starn said.
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