Do you know what ambergris is? No, me neither till I happened to read, "Floating Gold, washing up on Phuket beach," in the Phuket Gazette.
A little research, after reading the article and I discovered that ambergris is a bile secretion from the sperm whale. Its also very valuable. Now I could leave you guessing here why ambergris is so valuable while I head off to Phuket in search of some floating gold, but that would be a little unfair since hopefully I have now tickled your taste buds!
So here's some information. Well it transpires that sperm whales secrete ambergris in their poo via their bile duct normally however if its a large bit they actually regurgitate it in largish chunks that float in the ocean-some making their way to the shore.
OK that's what it is but why is it so valuable? Well believe it or not it is a base ingredient for perfume usually replaced by an artificial substitute, since natural ambergris is as rare as rocking horse droppings! So if you find a substantial quantity like the lady in the news article you could indeed take early retirement.
I can't find much information on the current price for ambergris but in 2006 1 gram was worth $10 so a kilogram or two and you are starting to talk big bucks.
So if with the approaching high season here in Thailand you happen to be heading towards Phuket and the kids are playing up you could always send them beach combing for ambergris-best not tell them where it comes from!
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3 comments:
How long can you still use the samples for? I was wondering because that lady seemed to be hanging on to them?
Hi Emm not sure on that but I fancy it keeps quite a while. In the article you can see that the value of the stuff even in rural Thailand is quite high.
I think it is wonderful that this could change the lives of those that find it.
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