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Ambergris

post #1 of 31
3/25/10 at 10:31am
Thread Starter 
I spend a lot of time at sea and seasides in places visited by whales and I often look for objects that could be ambergris, I know the chances are very slim but you never know plus it keeps me
entertained
.
My question is if any of you have also looked for
ambergris
or ever had in his/her hand real ambergris?
To be honest even if I see a piece of it the chances are I will have a hard time to recognize it.
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post #2 of 31
3/25/10 at 10:48am
  • MFJ
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Hey Basteri, not sure if you've seen this thread yet, but it may interest you! http://www.basenotes.net/threads/247...-from-the-sea-!!

Looks a little like cheese?
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post #3 of 31
3/25/10 at 11:07am
There are some very good image resources on the internet when googling "ambergris". I am SURE I have seen this on the beach in New Zealand as a kid, but of course had no means then of knowing its true value. The pieces I recall from those days (and from pieces seen in a museum) are greyer than the picture posted in the link Matthew gave above.
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post #4 of 31
3/25/10 at 11:34am
"[Ambergris is] produced in the digestive system of sperm whales" - Wikipedia

Well, I didn't know that. I just presumed it was some kind of plant. I am a fool
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post #5 of 31
3/25/10 at 4:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Basteri View Post

I spend a lot of time at sea and seasides in places visited by whales and I often look for objects that could be ambergris, I know the chances are very slim but you never know plus it keeps me
entertained
.
My question is if any of you have also looked for
ambergris
or ever had in his/her hand real ambergris?
To be honest even if I see a piece of it the chances are I will have a hard time to recognize it.

I have never looked for ambergris but I many years ago I found a chunk of what was most likely ambergris as big as my hand on a beach near Wollongong. At the time I thought it was a stinky blob of surfboard wax so I tossed it as quickly as I found it.
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post #6 of 31
3/25/10 at 5:06pm
surreality, Wow you might have thrown out a Fortune.
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post #7 of 31
3/26/10 at 12:35am
Thread Starter 
thank you guys
(OMG surreality.... that chunk of ambergris would have reached nice price...)
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post #8 of 31
3/26/10 at 12:50am
I sometimes think about what it would be like to have your own business where you just go out on a boat deep into the ocean and fish for whale vomit, and sell it to companies. Imagine the profit in that.

I wonder if you have to have some sort of license. I know a million people who have boats, and a million more who know about the value of ambergris, you'd think everyone would be doing it..
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post #9 of 31
3/26/10 at 1:20am
  • MFJ
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I would imagine they are quite difficult to find in the first place, and with synthetic substitutes so readily available and widely used, it may not be the easiest thing to find a buyer for, me thinks....
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post #10 of 31
3/26/10 at 5:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Cologneist View Post

I sometimes think about what it would be like to have your own business where you just go out on a boat deep into the ocean and fish for whale vomit, and sell it to companies. Imagine the profit in that.

I wonder if you have to have some sort of license. I know a million people who have boats, and a million more who know about the value of ambergris, you'd think everyone would be doing it..

That's a premature way of collecting it - it takes literally years of sloshing about in the sea and being baked in the sun before it gets its sweet-musky aroma and, basically, it's only ready when it washes up on some beach somewhere. Prior to that, more often than not, it's exactly what it is - whale puke. That explains why there aren't fleets of boats out looking for the stuff in some mad whale-sick rush.
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post #11 of 31
3/26/10 at 9:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Basteri View Post

thank you guys
(OMG surreality.... that chunk of ambergris would have reached nice price...)

Maybe, maybe not. I was young, maybe 10 or 11, so my hand wasn't that big.
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post #12 of 31
3/26/10 at 9:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by matthewfoo View Post

I would imagine they are quite difficult to find in the first place, and with synthetic substitutes so readily available and widely used, it may not be the easiest thing to find a buyer for, me thinks....

There are quite a few brokers that buy and sell ambergris so finding a buyer is not that difficult.
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post #13 of 31
3/26/10 at 11:16am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by surreality View Post

There are quite a few brokers that buy and sell ambergris so finding a buyer is not that difficult.

Ah yes, I did a quick search on "Ambergris selling" and quite an extensive list of merchants appeared, apart from the earlier 2 links thegoodlife provided in the other thread.
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post #14 of 31
3/26/10 at 3:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by great_badir View Post

That's a premature way of collecting it - it takes literally years of sloshing about in the sea and being baked in the sun before it gets its sweet-musky aroma and, basically, it's only ready when it washes up on some beach somewhere. Prior to that, more often than not, it's exactly what it is - whale puke. That explains why there aren't fleets of boats out looking for the stuff in some mad whale-sick rush.

Ya but aren't there stories on the news every so often about people finding the stuff and selling it right then and there for a nice chunk of cash?
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post #15 of 31
3/26/10 at 4:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Cologneist View Post

Ya but aren't there stories on the news every so often about people finding the stuff and selling it right then and there for a nice chunk of cash?

Yep, but 9 times out of 10 it's been washed up on a beach and found by some lucky beggar walking their dog or out for an early run. I've never heard of "ready" ambergris being pulled up in fishing nets out at sea.
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post #16 of 31
4/14/10 at 8:33am
I'm currently writing a book about ambergris for Harper Collins. I have some ambergris here with me. I enjoyed this thread a lot and I'm glad there's interest out there in ambergris. Maybe you'll all buy a copy!!! The white stuff one of you mentioned might have been pumice ... and the fatty gross stuff the other person mentioned might have been ambergris but could have been a thousand other things often mistaken for ambergris.
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post #17 of 31
4/14/10 at 3:16pm
i know ambergris is good for frags but whale vomit. ewwww
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post #18 of 31
4/14/10 at 3:58pm
It's not whale vomit, it comes out the other end!
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post #19 of 31
4/14/10 at 4:35pm
Good point. Whale poo!
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post #20 of 31
4/14/10 at 4:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by joxer96 View Post

It's not whale vomit, it comes out the other end!

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww thats even worse
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post #21 of 31
4/14/10 at 5:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by joxer96 View Post

It's not whale vomit, it comes out the other end!

Actually, both are right. Sounds like what is generally used in perfumery, though, it the stuff that came out the mouth since it's bigger and probably easier to harvest.

From Wiki:
Ambergris is usually passed in the fecal matter. Ambergris that forms a mass too large to exit via the anus is expelled via the mouth, leading to the reputation of ambergris as primarily coming from whale vomit.[1]
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post #22 of 31
11/15/11 at 11:38am
Howdy.. I'm from New Zealand and I find/look for Ambergris professionally - happy to answer any questions you may have...Matt
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post #23 of 31
11/15/11 at 11:42am
Hey Matt,

Can you email me at cjkemp@gmail.com

Thanks!

--ck
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post #24 of 31
11/15/11 at 11:45am
Can one make a hefty profit from looking for this professionally?
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post #25 of 31
11/15/11 at 11:52am
Most definitely. I suggest you buy my book about ambergris, which will be published in May, 2012, titled, Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris.

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Floating-Gold-.../dp/0226430367

Everything you wanted to know about ambergris. And then a bit more.
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post #26 of 31
11/15/11 at 12:25pm
cheers CK..will email you soon.. Hi Chris..I'm also looking forward to your book coming out. (edited)...
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post #27 of 31
11/15/11 at 12:27pm
Oh, that's funny. What did I write in the visitors' book? Do you remember? I don't!
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post #28 of 31
11/15/11 at 12:28pm
'researching a book on ambergris'
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post #29 of 31
11/15/11 at 12:29pm
are you able to attach photo's to these threads anyone?..(sorry, I'm pretty new to all this)
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post #30 of 31
11/15/11 at 12:32pm
Of course! What a day. Amazing place. Probably the farthest away I've been from real civilization and noise and pollution. I loved it there. I took a lot of photos and walked for miles. I was there in January 2010, I think.

I saw this story in October: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5424...or-plane-crash

Could have been me!
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post #31 of 31
11/15/11 at 12:39pm
edited
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