As rare as hen's teeth.

[snapdharlich]

Anyone know where the saying/phrase comes from. I know someone has already asked what the saying means - They don't have teeth! (just incase you didn't know) but any ideas where from?

[Peter Pedant]

oh, some chicks have a thingey  which is called a tooth which they use to chip their way out of the egg.

perhaps it persists is a few......

[Quizmonster]

The phrase started life, in the form 'as scarce as hen's teeth', as an Americanism, being first recorded in a book called 'Tarheel Talk' published in 1858. (Tarheels are people from North Carolina.) There is no record of anyone having used the 'rare' version before it appeared in Britain in 'The Times' in 1969.