History Main / SolidGoldPoop

** Also from the Bible: in 2nd Kings chapter 6, the Aramean siege against Samaria would be so great and painful to endure that the people would sell the fourth part of a kab (about 1 cup) of dove's dung for five shekels of silver.

* In ''[[Literature/JoesWorld Forward The Mage]]'' by Eric Flint, it turns out that a magic scroll that turns "base materials" into gold only works when a dwarf takes a dump on it, since there is no material more "base" than dwarf shit. When TheEmpire finds out, they start gathering dwarves, chaining them to toilets, and start experimenting on dwarves to find out how to replicate this (unaware that a magical scroll is required). When someone brings up that it's gold, yes, but it's made from dwarf shit, the guy that recommends this plot states that gold may as well be dwarf shit, for how many dwarf slaves that they send to the mines.\\
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This is brought up in the sequel ''The Philosophical Strangler'', where this project is still going strong, and TheEmpire is devoting its top scientific and magical experts to the task of discovering how to replicate the process.

** Among the uses of shellac, it is used on wood finishing in many different ways, Including the traditional French polish, which uses shellac as it's main ingredient. Others include as adhesive on watchmaking, as low-temperarure fuel on fireworks and as a longer lasting alternative to nail polish. Also, for several decades it was used on shellac records.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation has an SCP that poops diamonds.

* ''ComicBook/TheFabulousFurryFreakBrothers'' includes a convoluted tale in which Fat Freddy's cat was kidnapped by aliens whose ship had run out of fuel. Terrified, the cat crapped onto the deck...

* ''Literature/The13Clocks'' had a woman who cried gemstomes whenever she was sad. Unfortunately by the time the heroes came around, her tears dried up completely due to people telling her sad stories so much. However... she also cries gems when she's laughing hard [[spoiler: only for them to turn back into water after two weeks. Long enough for the heroes' purpose.]]

* The spice melange in ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' is formed via [[spoiler: the excretions of the sand trout, larval {{Sand Worm}}s, mixed with water]]. This is actually an extremely important plot point, since [[spoiler: the terraforming of Arrakis in the first three books drives the sandworms to extinction.]]

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', due to being Hogwarts' Caretaker and living right next to the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid has access to all sorts of magical creatures, as well as their waste products. Unicorn hair, for example, is used in wands and potions. Hagrid uses the unicorn tail hair he finds caught in branches in the forest as thread and binding for bandages.

* In ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'', there's a new drug going around New Crobuzon called dreamshit. Isaac feeds it to a strange caterpillar he has because it's the only thing it's interested in eating. It turns out that [[spoiler: dreamshit is made from the secretions of captive adult slake-moths, which they use to feed their larvae. Slake-moths are [[GiantSpider huge]], [[IntangibleMan phasing]], [[BrainFood thought-eating]] monsters, and raw dreamshit is digested souls ...and Isaac's caterpillar grows up.]]
** [[spoiler:The dreamshit Isaac feeds the caterpillar is cut with various other things, so it's not as pure as "milk" from an adult moth. This is stated to warp the baby somewhat.]]

* Mentioned in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. There is a common joke about Lord Tywin, that he shits gold (The Lannister family being golden haired, disgustingly wealthy and Tywin himself having gold flecked green eyes and often wearing gold plated armour) but [[spoiler: after his son Tyrion kills him on the privy and his vital functions... complete]], it turns out that "Lord Tywin Lannister did not, in the end, shit gold".

* In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, glitterstim spice, the FantasticDrug on which many a vast criminal fortune (including Jabba the Hutt's) has been built, is the "webbing" of a species of giant spiders that are only known to live in underground caves on the planet Kessel. The spiders use it to catch and prey on WillOWisp-like energy creatures that live in the same caves.

* In an episode of ''Series/DoctorWho,'' there was an fly-like species who traded for food. As the Doctor explained, "they feed off what others leave behind...From their...behind...if you see what I mean. Perfectly natural, they are flies!"

* Chicken eggs comes out of the hen's cloaca, which is where everything a chicken excretes comes from.

The reason why the species itself doesn't find this material valuable is that it may be, [[{{Pun}} ahem]], [[WorthlessYellowRocks common as crap]] on its homeworld. Face it, it may be valuable, but it's still poo, vomit, etc. Oftentimes a facet of BizarreAlienBiology, and may lead to MonsterOrganTrafficking if someone gets a little too wealth-hungry. Compare PoopingFood, where the waste turns out to be perfectly edible food. Contrast AlienLunch, which is what goes into the alien body. If it has healing properties, see FantasticMedicinalBodilyProduct. If it's waste, but still manages to save someone, see RevoltingRescue. BodyToJewel is a specific SubTrope that covers bodily fluids being turned into {{Mineral MacGuffin}}s.

* There is a fairy tale of a girl called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamonds_and_Toads "Diamonds and Toads,"]] whose mouth produced gemstones whenever she spoke. A prince or noble of some sort wants to marry her for this ability... until she takes a vow of silence. A similar fairy tale specifies that the girl gains this ability because she was kind to an old lady who turned out to be a fairy in disguise, testing peoples' generosity. When her vain and avaricious sister learns how she gained this remarkable capability, she sets out to find the "old lady" herself. She does, too, but her greed gets the better of her and she gives herself away. Having failed the fairy's test, she is instead enchanted to have toads and slugs tumble from her lips when she speaks. Bet she learned to shut up fast.

* There is a fairy tale of a girl whose mouth produced gemstones whenever she spoke. A prince or noble of some sort wants to marry her for this ability... until she takes a vow of silence. A similar fairy tale specifies that the girl gains this ability because she was kind to an old lady who turned out to be a fairy in disguise, testing peoples' generosity. When her vain and avaricious sister learns how she gained this remarkable capability, she sets out to find the "old lady" herself. She does, too, but her greed gets the better of her and she gives herself away. Having failed the fairy's test, she is instead enchanted to have toads and slugs tumble from her lips when she speaks. Bet she learned to shut up fast.

* The novel ''Literature/Camelot30K'' has the keracks, one-eyed centimeters-long prawns (with an {{Expy}} Myth/KingArthur society) who have around a hundred orifices... each of which excretes an element in the periodic table.

--->"This isn't us! It's this... thing. It's putting bad thoughts into our heads."
** In another episode, when going through his reproductive cycle, Roger squirts out breast milk that, when combined with Francine's potato salad, is absolutely addictive. [[MainliningTheMonster Pretty soon Stan has him gorged to the point of bursting and hooked up to a milking machine 24/7.]]

** Zoidberg always hacks up stuff when he has grit in his throat. In "Bendin' in the Wind", Leela and Amy think it's disgusting, until they notice the "stuff" is actually beautiful pearls. Keeping in tune with his resemblance to various aquatic species - that's how pearls are really made.
*** Zoidberg thinks they're disgusting too; when Leela and Amy start cooing over how beautiful the pearls are, he says "Eeew, you're touching them!", which also provides the page quote.

** The addictive soft drink Slurm turns out to [[spoiler:come out of the behind of the queen of a hive of alien slugs]]. Interestingly, it's possible for humanoids to be [[spoiler: turned into one of said queens (though the resulting Slurm is said to have a crappy taste) and said queen appears to be addicted to Slurm herself...]] Fry does [[IAteWhat do a Spit Take]] after finding out what Slurm is, but immediately goes back to guzzling the stuff. The Queen points out that honey comes from "bee's behinds" (which isn't exactly true, but is no less disgusting when you think about it.)\\
During the episode, we hear that toothpaste in the Futurama universe [[YouDoNOTWantToKnow is made from some other alien species that the Slurm Queen does not even want to mention]].
** There's also the episode where ambergris (whale vomit - see TruthInTelevision below) is an important plot point.

"One man's crap is another man's treasure" taken a little too literally. Many [[FantasticSapientSpeciesTropes sentient species]] have various biological functions which produce some sort of waste or other material (i.e. spit, tears, urine, fecal matter, vomit, [[http://xkcd.com/1148/ the list goes on]]). Most of the time these wastes are treated like, well, waste, and disposed of accordingly. Most of the time. But for those aliens who won the SuperpowerLottery, their various waste products, fecal or otherwise, are like gold to other species ([[ElementsDoNotWorkThatWay or literally]] ''[[ElementsDoNotWorkThatWay are]]'' [[ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics gold]]).

The reason why the species itself doesn't find this material valuable is that it may be, [[IncrediblyLamePun ahem]], [[WorthlessYellowRocks common as crap]] on its homeworld. Face it, it may be valuable, but it's still poo, vomit, etc. Oftentimes a facet of BizarreAlienBiology, and may lead to HumansAreBastards if we get a little too wealth hungry. Can lead to MainliningTheMonster if the Solid Gold Poop isn't gold, but something addictive. Compare PoopingFood, where the waste turns out to be perfectly edible food. Contrast AlienLunch, which is what goes in to the alien body. Though this is TruthInTelevision when you consider the useful and unusual applications of real-life animal droppings... If it has healing properties see FantasticMedicinalBodilyProduct. If it's waste, but still manages to save someone, see RevoltingRescue.

BodyToJewel is a specific SubTrope that covers bodily fluids being turned into {{Mineral MacGuffin}}s.

* Symbiotic microorganisms are living off the fiber -- cellulose, indigestible to humans -- in your large intestine right now. Basically, they're eating your poo and you're deriving useful vitamins from ''their'' metabolic waste products, so you're eating theirs.

* ''Series/TheMagicians'' featured the world of Fillory in Season 2 and onwards where a local species of insects literally called "Gold-shitting Beetles" [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin do exactly as they're called.]]. Unfortunatelly they become endangered and later extinct due to [[TheMagicGoesAway magic failing whcih leaves the economy in serious danger.]]

* An unlockable cheat in ''[[VideoGame/LEGOAdaptationGame Lego Indiana Jones]]'' allows camels to poop out studs, the game's currency.

** Another tale tells of a holy man who ate only pine needles and ''shat rice''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' allows you to play a [[EatDirtCheap Lithoid]] Species, which eat Minerals instead of food. Some Lithoid species actually shed Rare Crystals (used in cutting edge electronics and advanced materials] scales, excrete Volatile Motes (often used for their being highly energetic, so they can be used as [[StuffBlowingUp High Explosives] or in alloy manufactoring), or produce Exotic Gases (used for a variety of purposes in research and chemistry). Deviating from the trend, once they have the technology to actually use their body waste for industrial/military purposes, they treat it as just as much a Strategic Resources as any other species.

The reason why the species itself doesn't find this material valuable is that it may be, [[IncrediblyLamePun ahem]], [[WorthlessYellowRocks common as crap]] on its homeworld. Face it, it may be valuable, but it's still poo, vomit, etc. Oftentimes a facet of BizarreAlienBiology, and may lead to HumansAreBastards if we get a little too wealth hungry. Can lead to MainliningTheMonster if the Solid Gold Poop isn't gold, but something addictive. Compare PoopingFood, where the waste turns out to be perfectly edible food. Contrast AlienLunch, which is what goes in to the alien body. Though this is TruthInTelevision when you consider the useful and unusual applications of real-life animal droppings... If it has healing properties see FantasticMedicinalBodilyProduct.

** And in the Literature/NewJediOrder series, prisoners captured by the Yuuzhan Vong are sometimes fed in this way. The Vong find it amusing. The prisoners try not to think about it, since the alternative is starvation.

* One "What If?" AU-story from ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' depicts Himawari, Shin-Chan's kid sister and the baby of the Nohara family, as a DoorstopBaby which the Noharas adopt after finding out she had the ability to defecate gold. The Noharas becomes insanely rich in the process, but trouble follows when Shin-Chan (thanks to his LooseLips as usual) spills the secret behind their wealth to the public. Himawari ends up kidnapped, with the Noharas getting caught as well after a botched rescue mission, but when Himawari is made to poop, she ends up defecating regular feces. Then, aliens from the Sunflower planet comes to their rescue, saving the Noharas and revealing Himawari to be a member of their race (''himawari'' being Japanese for "sunflower"), whose babies poop gold ''only'' in the first nine moths of their lives. The aliens offer a 1-ton golden poop statue worth ''billions'' to the Noharas in exchange for Himawari, but to their surprise, the Noharas [[KeepTheReward reject the gold, preferring to keep Himawari after they've grown attached to the baby]].

Warning: High concentration of '''spoilers''' due to this trope oftentimes being in TheReveal, and always full of {{Squick}}.

* Chemically speaking, lanolin is a wax secreted by wool-bearing animals. In layman's terms, it's sheep sweat.

** Because urine fresh from a healthy urinary system is biologically sterile, it's been used for thousands of years as an improvised antiseptic. In some herding cultures, livestock-keepers traditionally use a bit of their own urine to cleanse the wound after gelding a male animal or cutting the umbilical cord of a newborn one.

** The eggs themselves are chicken's [[YouDoNOTWantToKnow menstruation]].