Man finds valuable whale vomit on beach

upi ^ | Jan. 31, 2013

[JoeProBono]

MORECAMBE, England, A British man said he was walking his dog on the beach when the canine discovered a lump of whale vomit -- also known as ambergris -- worth some $158,550.

Ken Wilman said his boxer, Madge, discovered the smelly lump on a Morecambe, England, beach and an online search identified the 6-pound object as ambergris, an ingredient in perfume that could be worth as much as $158,550, The Mirror reported Thursday.

"It smelled horrible. I left it, came back home and looked it up on the Internet," Wilman said. "When I saw how much it could be worth, I went back and grabbed it. It is like walking on the beach and finding a bag of 50,000 pounds [$79,275] in cash."

Wilman said he will send a sample of the lump to France to verify it is authentic ambergris, vomit from a sperm whale.

[Red Badger]

Ancient Egyptians used to burn it as incense........

[Red Badger]

That’s not whale vomit. That’s a whale’s kidney stone.

That's whale GOLD!........

[Blood of Tyrants]

Ambergris has been used in making perfume for centuries. Surprisingly enough, some perfumes are made of several foul smelling substances that smell pleasant when mixed together.

[cuban leaf]

...some perfumes are made of several foul smelling substances that smell pleasant when mixed together.

---

Kinda like Limburger cheese and garlic?

[digger48]

Kinda like Limburger cheese and garlic?

To someone like Jeanine Garafolo, that would be an improvement

[bgill]

His poor dog looks like he’d rather be anywhere else.

[RJS1950]

Actually, season 4 episode 16, “300 Big Boys” of Futurama from 10 years ago covered the subject in some detail (in a comedic way).

[Go_Raiders]

‘My gaze is caught and held, and I am helpless, mesmerized...’

[LachlanMinnesota]

Whale Vomit is about the only thing I’ve heard actual make money in the Obama Administration’s fifth year in office. I’ve tried vomiting up money myself, but it is never worth much - I send it to my kid’s college every semester, anyway.

[floozy22]

There’s a Michael Moore joke in there somewhere.

[CaptainPhilFan]

>‘My gaze is caught and held, and I am helpless, mesmerized...’<

I salute you.
Or I play my air guitar in your general direction.

Call me later, we’ll review the set list.

[Joe 6-pack]

Two primary qualities perfume makers aim for are intensity and longevity. A perfume must emit molecules into the surrounding air for it to be detected. A perfume that evaporates too quickly will be overly intense for a short period and then rapidly lose all effect. A perfume that evaporates too slowly may not have enough intensity although it may have much longer longevity.

By virtue of its chemical structure, ambergris has unique properties that, when blended with various scents will optimize the evaporation rate and intensity, making it highly desireable additive.

[Joe 6-pack]

"whale pellets?"

Actually it's whale puke.

[eartrumpet]

Perfume makers pay good money for skunk essence. The stink is removed but the stink carrier remains and is used to project the perfume smell over distances.

[PLMerite]

Okay, I’m curious. If one should happen to find some of that on the beach, what do you do?

[JoeProBono]

http://www.ambergris.fr/

[willyd]

Send it to me and I will verify it with a certificate of authenticity...then I will store it in my federal reserve vault and you can take out loans on the value of the certificate. Sound good?

[Borax Queen]

This is too sick, I’m blacking out and ignoring the twisted shark. What’s that called... I need a censor device... :0)

[Go_Raiders]

I haven’t been able to prove a definitive link, but a cousin of mine two generations ago in Canada married a member of a Peart family of Ontario. Maybe I can play the ‘almost family’ card and we can get Neil to sit in on drums!

Cheers.

[Lakeshark]

Censor devices don't work in dungeons....

:-)