Julio, a 30-year-old Swiss educator has an impressive collection of four, five, six and even seven-leafed clovers, which just might make him the world’s luckiest man.
Clovers with more than three leaves are considered lucky charms in many cultures, and if a person’s luck would be measured in the sheer number of such clovers in their possession, a Swiss collector of rare clovers would almost undoubtedly be the world’s luckiest man. 30-year-old Julio has been collecting lucky clovers since he was only nine, and has since amassed an enviable collection of 3,467 four, five, six and even seven-leafed clovers laminated to protect them from the elements.
Photo: Amy Reed/Unsplash
The first four-leafed clover he picked was with his grandfather. Even though he’s found several thousands more since, he’ll never forget that first experience. His most prolific period was between the ages of 25 and 30, when he went through extensive periods of unemployment and filled his time by walking through town and through the countryside. There were days when he found between 50 and 100 clovers, and his personal daily record stands at 200 clovers with at least four leaves.
Talking about the rarity of his collected clovers, Julio told 20min.ch that, on average, out of 10,000 plants, only one has four leaves, out of 100,000, you’re likely to find just one with five leaves, and six-leaf clovers are about one in two million. As for seven-leafed clovers, they are so rare that statistics don’t really exist.
“I actually have three seven-leafed clovers,” Julio proudly boasted. “It’s very rare, one of the last people to find one, to my knowledge, was a 9-year-old boy in England, and that was in 2019.
Although most people think Julio spends most of his free time looking for rare lucky clovers, he claims that couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, he has never really put much effort in his searches. In fact, most times, if he can’t find one in a few minutes, he doesn’t even bother looking anymore.
Photo: Yan Ming/Unsplash
Julio just enjoys going on walks, and whenever he sees a clover patch, he dedicates a few minutes, or the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, to combing it with his eyes and fingers in search of rarities. 95 times out of 100, he finds at least one item for his ever-growing collection.
The clover collector says that with the world around him moving at a faster speed every day, stopping to look for lucky clovers gives him some time for himself, in the middle of nature.
