THE UK and Ireland are in the grip of a major conker shortage and entrepreneurs on eBay are taking full advantage.
A combination of the long hot summer and the recent weeks of strong winds and heavy rainfall have left a serious dent in the number of fully-grown conkers.
Part of the problem came as a result of gale-force winds blowing thousands of the popular nuts down off the trees long before they had full grown.
The result is a dearth of high-quality conkers with many failed to meet the required standard to be used in any conker competitions with fellow collectors.
As a result, collectors have been flocking to sites like eBay and Gumtree to get their conker fix, with sellers flogging horse chestnuts for a minimum of €5 a bag on eBay.
One collector from Northamptonshire, meanwhile, is offering 5 kilo packages of around 350 extra-large conkers for around €20.
Anyone purchasing these prize conkers would be wise to heed the listing, which notes that "these super fresh conkers will sweat during transit" and that buyers should "remove them from packaging as soon as possible and give them a wipe over."
Customers are also reminded they are purchasing horse chestnuts, not sweet chestnuts, meaning they "cannot eat this item."
These online listings come in the wake of the news competitors at the upcoming World Conker Championship have been forced to bring in horse chestnuts from Germany.
The Scottish championships, meanwhile, are reportedly under threat with the current shortage resulting in calls for the event to be cancelled.
Known as something of a spider repellent, the story goes that conkers contain a noxious chemical capable of repelling arachnids.
Unfortunately, there is little scientific evidence to back up these claims.
That said, conkers do contain triterpenoid, which supposedly repels moths, making them a useful addition to your wardrobe.
