Posted on 01/24/2006 8:17:55 AM PST by dead
SYDNEY - A family on the south Australian coast found a piece of whale vomit on the beach that is tipped to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, national radio reported.
The chunk of ambergris, which is sought after by perfume manufacturers, weighed 14.75 kilograms and is worth about 20 US dollars per gram, ABC radio said — making a total of 295,000 dollars.
Fisherman Leon Wright and his wife Loralee found the ambergris, which sperm whales are believed to vomit to rid their intestines of hard objects such as squid beaks, on a remote beach near Streaky Bay.
Loralee was reluctant to accept her husband's suggestion that they throw the mysterious, solid, fatty object into the back of her four-wheel-drive vehicle, so they left it there, said local marine expert Ken Jury.
Two weeks later, travelling in Leon's vehicle, they discovered that it was still there and took it home, Jury, who is advising the family, said.
Ambergris, which floats after being vomited by the whales, is a rare find and has to a large extent been replaced in the fragrance industry by synthetics.
Sapa-AFP
fragrance industry? ummmm what does whale vomit smell like?
Darn, I can just see it now, people picking up all kinds of disgusting stuff and trying to sell it on ebay...
Moby Dick. They found ambergris in a whale's stomach in that story. Stubbs held it up and said, "a prize"!
http://www.answers.com/ambergris&r=67
I'm speechless.
It smells like civet urine.
I believe this is used in Chanel No. 5. Seriously. IIRC, that stuff isn't cheap either.
After the Canadian election results, there could be good money to be had monitoring Michael Moore's sewage pipes.
Ambergris was once a highly valuable commodity- even as disgusting as it may sound. I'm not sure how much used it is today, though.
You may recall it's mention when the young sailor in 'Master and Commander: Far Side of the World' was speculating on what riches that the Acheron's hold might produce.
As a teenager I worked at the manufacturing plant. You wouldn't believe some of the things they used to make perfume. I used to tell people what I saw but no one would believe that something so awful could create something so fragrant.
I don't know why, but I'm pinging you to all the nasty articles today.
When I saw the title "Whale vomit....", I thought they were talking about one of Fat Teddy's speeches.
"what does whale vomit smell like?
It smells like civet urine."
male or female?
I just want to know who the person was that looked at whale vomit and said, "I can make some nice smelling stuff out of that."
squid beaks
What was that stuff they scrapped out of their brains? I can't remember the name and what they used that for.
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