A reader submits a curious ebay listing.

A real chance to snap up 10 pots of lobster butter, which is made from “heating ground lobster shells with butter (lobster meat and coral are sometimes added) and straining the mixture into ice water to harden.”

Rumour has it that a Group of unnamed London based investment bankers have taken up making markets in Lobster Butter as part of a desk “lobster offsetting strategy”. The 1kg of Harrods Lobster Butter is described as “investment grade” and is being marketed on Ebay as a potential hedge for movements in the food commodity markets:

The lobster butter is described as free of exposure to so-called “collateralised lobster obligations” (CLOs), sub-prime lobsters and independent of the monolobster insurers.

As part of the “lobster offsetting strategy”, all proceeds of the auction are said to be going to the National Lobster Hatchery, www.nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk, whose aim is to promote the conservation of lobster populations and to advance the education of the public in the conservation of lobsters, allowing the buyer of the lobster butter to remain “lobster neutral”. The next step is said to be to establish some form of international “lobster credit trading” system.