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
You just can't make this stuff up.
Good question. I know that they were collecting Ambergris as far back as the 18th century. No one, IIRC, has ever seen a whale puke. They believe that ambergris comes from whales because they find other things like small bones, krill and crab shells mixed in with it. Ambergris became too expensive for making amber style perfumes so synthetics have been created as a replacement.
Fascinating
Back then, musk was very popular and was used alone as a fragrance and as an ingredient for many other perfumes. The original musk was made from beaver testicles. That's right. That's what we used to make musk. Two pound boxes of frozen beaver balls. Hey, you asked.
No one uses them anymore as they have also been replaced by synthetics. Patchouli fragrance comes from a tree. Plants are the basis for most fragrances and many of them are sourced from the rainforest. Interesting business.
This is a ch__ch. What's missing?
I believe it still has some rare applications, (such as certain parts in the Space Shuttle), since it does not break down like synthetic oils. But I might be mistaken.
"if they stuck this picture in the whale tank"
Not any longer...have you seen her since her plastic surgery.....she's hot!...until she opens her mouth.
How did they get the beavers so cold they froze their nuts off?
LOL...I noticed! At least they are humorous nasty articles.
I think I'm gonna be sick
I googled up a picture of the stuff and remember finding something similar looking that had an aromatic aroma around 2 foot long by 1 foot wide around 36 years ago while walking along an ocean beach on Long Island in the winter. Thought it was whale sh*t. even in 1970 dollars that would have been a pretty penny.
Man, I can't stop laughing - "shoots chow" - Talk about descriptive! Whew!
What in the world is IIRC again???
........ the assorted diamonds of 50+ carats imbedded in the sweet vomit had nothing to do with the value.
Okay, this really has nothing to do with whale vomit, but I'm pretty sure there IS a beach near where this photo was taken. |
How did they get the beavers so cold they froze their nuts off?
Y'know, that reminds me of a joke about smelling moth balls... |
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