Ken Wilman, his dog Madge and their smelly find Photo:Manchester Evening News
There is some very interesting beachcombing going on these days in the UK. Two weeks ago, we posted about four large, barrel-shaped pieces of lard that washed up on the beach at St.Cyrus nature reserve in Scotland. Locals opined that it smelled “good enough to have a fry up with,” which convinced me never to try fried food in that part of Scotland. Now, Ken Wilman, who was out walking his dog on a beach in Lancashire, found a 6 pound smelly lump of what may be ambergris, the “whale vomit” valued in the manufacturing of perfume. He has been offered £43,000 for the lump by a French dealer, though others have valued it at between £100,000 – 180,000. Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the story along.
Dog walker finds smelly lump of whale vomit on beach that’s worth £100,000
I wonder how these things come about. The first guy to find something like that said, “hmmm, this stinks to high heaven. Should make some great perfume.”
“”The smell of ambergris itself varies from piece to piece, ranging from earthy to musky to sweet. If a perfume house’s “nose”—the person responsible for choosing scents—likes the aroma, the ambergris can be worth thousands an ounce.”‘
From National Geographic News
Published August 30, 2012
What’s Ambergris? Behind the $60k Whale-Waste Find
Sperm whales eject an intestinal slurry called ambergris into the ocean, where the substance hardens as it bobs along. Eventually it gets collected along shores—most often as sheer happenstance, as in the case of eight-year-old Charlie Naysmith in the U.K. a few days ago.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/120830-ambergris-charlie-naysmith-whale-vomit-science/