Thai man finds precious sperm whale vomit
Sperm whale
It looked like a large boulder, but what a Thai man, Narit Suwansang, found on a beach near Nakhon Si Tamarat was not a boulder, but a lump of sperm whale vomit, known as ambergris, as it turned out. So what?, you may think, but such a wooden shoe is extremely expensive.
ambergris
If, like me, you don't know what ambergris is, read what Wikipedia writes about it:
“Ambergris is a predominantly grey-coloured, hard waxy product from the intestinal tract of sperm whales. One theory is that amber is formed from the digested carapaces of squids, the staple diet of sperm whales. Since parts of the hard, beak-like mouths of squids are sometimes found in clumps of amber, one explanation is that amber is formed to allow these hard, indigestible parts to pass through the sperm whale's intestinal tract more easily. Ambergris washes up on beaches and sometimes floats around at sea in clumps of up to 45 kg, and is then sometimes picked up by fishermen. In addition, any amber present is extracted when sperm whales are slaughtered.”
Precious
Ambergris is used as a natural fragrance in the production of perfume. Due to the high price and the uncertain supply and quality, it is little used. Various synthetic fragrances have been developed to mimic the scent of ambergris.
Finding this chunk of ambergris weighing about 100 kilos in Nakhon Si Tamarat is therefore unique and can make the finder a fortune. Suwansang already has an offer from a businessman who is willing to pay almost a million baht per kilo for it if, after investigation, it turns out that it is a piece of top quality ambergris.
More ambergris finds
It is not the first time that ambergris has been found in Thailand. At the beginning of last year, a 6,5 kilo chunk yielded just over 10 million baht and another 16 kilo chunk was worth 20 million baht. Now you also know why perfumes are so expensive!
Finally
On the Dutch Wikipedia you will find more details about ambergris. If you switch to the English version you can read some nice details about sperm whale vomit, including how it was once used in the kitchen at the English court.
The original story of the find in Nakhon Si Tamarat comes from AsiaOne. You can read the article, which also contains a video with Thai text, via this link: www.asiaone.com/asia/million-dollar-vomit-thai-man-offered-42m-whale-puke-find
“In addition, any amber present is extracted when sperm whales are slaughtered.”
Judging by what people want to pay for Ambergris, I suspect that this will also be a reason to hunt it.
no wonder that if a sperm whale washes up on a Dutch beach, the fish immediately becomes “dissected”….
Still strange to spray whale vomit on, how do they get on it?
Left too early again
I sometimes wonder how people arrive at the use of certain raw materials.
Now take this Ambergris.
I can imagine that people are brainstorming about a new fragrance.
Is there someone who stands up there and says, "Why don't we use the pellet of a sperm whale?" One just washed ashore” or how does that work? 😉
Matter of interest, money and chance.
We have something and what can you do with it? Crab seeds are also such a product that is undervalued because of industrial interests while it would help the quality of life.