- By Supratik Das
- Tue, 13 May 2025 12:12 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
A long-serving funeral home worker in Thailand has caused a stir of widespread interest after making public his unconventional but long-held practice. He used to harvest gold teeth from cremated remains and melt them into gold bars. He said that the gold pieces had been collected from the cremated remains of the deceased throughout his working life. The man, based in central Thailand's Saraburi province, said that the practice was carried out with the full consent of the deceased’s families. As reported by a local news portal, he worked for years at a cemetery in his community where several Thai-Chinese communities carry out cremations. Over time, he began collecting gold teeth left behind in the ashes of the deceased, eventually amassing over 10 small gold nuggets.
The employee said that after cremations, ashes and bone bits frequently contain leftover gold teeth. Most families, he said, no longer wished to keep the gold and would give it to the undertakers. To confirm the genuineness of the item, the man went to a local gold shop in Saraburi, owned by a man named Namo. On April 25, the incident came to light via a trending video on social media posted by the gold shop owner, who has more than 830,000 followers on the platform. The video displayed the gold coins and verified their purity through an X-ray examination device.
The clip has provoked a flood of mixed reactions on social media. While others were surprised, others complimented the man's transparency. The funeral staff went on to clarify that a portion of the proceeds would go toward making merit for the dead person, according to Buddhist beliefs of respecting the deceased.
