$525 Fruitcake 70

70-year-old fruitcake sells for $525 in online auction

Proceeds will go to charity for the homeless

You’re probably not going eat that fruitcake, but instead of using it as a doorstop or throwing it away, just shove it in your closet — it might pay for a lot of Christmas presents one day.

An Arizona man shelled out $525 for a 70-year-old fruitcake in an online auction Thursday. The proceeds of the sale in Ohio will go to helping the homeless.

The cake was made by The Kroger Co. in 1941 and sold at a Cincinnati area store, and returned by its original owner unopened, complete with an explanatory note, to a Kroger shop 30 years later.

The manager of the store kept it in his home until this year, when he decided to auction it off through the Elite Estate Group in Cincinnati.

"The cake is still in its original tin, never been opened and has the original label on the box," Larry Chaney, owner of auction house, told ABC News.

The auction site advertised the cake as "one of those items everyone talks about and now you can own."

An even older Christmas cake just celebrated its 100th birthday in Minnesota. Baked in 1911 and discovered in a closet in 1992, the spice cake's frosting had disintegrated and the nuts sprinkled on top had become petrified, the Star Tribune reported.

Both cakes were most likely soaked in brandy or rum, which helped preserve them.

With News Wire Services

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/fruit-cake-sells-auction-525-article-1.996456#ixzz1hXXPYyOQ