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Daily Echo via BNPS.co.uk
Eight-year-old Charlie Naysmith shows off the piece of ambergris he found on the beach at Hengistbury Head on the coast of southern England.
An 8-year-old boy in England could be up to $63,000 richer, thanks to a piece of solidified whale vomit he picked up on the beach. The chunk may look like a yellow-brownish rock, but it's actually a primo piece of ambergris, an expensive perfume ingredient that is, um, spewed out by whales.
Charlie Naysmith stumbled upon the loaf-sized lump at Hengistbury Head, on the southern coast of England, the Bournemouth Echo reported over the weekend.
As far as Charlie was concerned, it was just a seaside curiosity. But after doing some research, he and his family determined that the curious lump could be worth somewhere between £10,000 and £40,000 ($15,850 to $63,350).
"We have discovered it is quite rare and are waiting for some more information from marine biology experts," the boy's father, Alex, told the Echo.
Charlie is reportedly thinking about using the money to build a house for animals. But first, he and his parents might want to get that expert opinion. It turns out that the ambergris trade can get pretty sticky.
'Floating Gold'
Ambergris is a waxy, bile-like substance that builds up in the intestines of sperm whales, apparently to ease the passage of hard material such as squid beaks through a whale's digestive tract. It's often characterized as whale vomit, and although that's fine as a family-friendly description, the stuff is more widely thought to come out of the whale's back end rather than its front end.
Fresh ambergris smells like fresh whale poop, but after a long period of seasoning and hardening in the ocean, it takes on a more delicate odor. It's been variously compared to the aroma of tobacco, the scent of an old wooden church, the fragrance of seaweed, or the smell of rubbing alcohol without the pungency.
"The problem with trying to describe the smell of ambergris is that it really only smells like ambergris," Christopher Kemp, a biologist and neuroscientist who's written a book about the substance, told Bloomberg Businessweek's Eric Spitznagel.
The title of Kemp's book? "Floating Gold."
The scent of ambergris is what makes it so valuable. The substance has been used as an incense, fragrance, flavoring, remedy or aphrodisiac in many cultures, going back to ancient Egypt and China. Herman Melville devoted a whole chapter of "Moby Dick" (Chapter 92) to a discussion of ambergris and how highly prized it was in 19th-century society. "Who would think, then, that such fine ladies and gentlemen should regale themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale!" Melville wrote.
More recently, ambergris — or ambrein, a compound extracted from ambergris — has been used as a fixative or fragrance amplifier rather than the main ingredient in perfumes. Ambergris' selling price has been quoted at $10 to $50 per gram, depending on the quality of the specimen. (The Echo estimates that the lump found at Hengistbury Head weighs about 600 grams, which suggests that Charlie shouldn't count on building a $63,000 house for his animals.)
Underground trade
The bad news is that the trade in ambergris isn't what it used to be, in large part due to the endangered status of sperm whales. By some accounts, it's illegal to sell the stuff in many jurisdictions, including the United States. There are some traders who dispute that interpretation of anti-whaling laws, but the stigma has driven perfume companies to look for plant-based substitutes such as labdanum, or synthetic scents such as Ambrox. (University of British Columbia researchers reported earlier this year that a balsam-fir gene may provide a path to cheaper ambergris-like compounds.)
Maybe it's the whiff of illegality, or maybe it's just that the stuff is so expensive — but for whatever reason, there's a clandestine character to the modern-day ambergris market. One of the subjects Kemp interviewed for his book is a full-time dealer on New Zealand's North Island, named Adrienne Beuse. Last year, she was involved in a huge ambergris deal that probably saw hundreds of thousands of dollars change hands. "It was a lot of money — that's all I can say," one of the sellers said.
The way Beuse tells it, New Zealand's choicest hunting grounds for ambergris are ruled by a gang of aggressive collectors and traders — a gang that doesn't shy away from violence to defend their turf. "They're called the Beach Mafia up here," Kemp quotes Beuse as saying. "They claim a proprietary interest in the beach. They are defending, I guess in their minds, their territory. And it's worth a lot of money. If a piece worth $50,000 washes up, they don't want anyone else to find it."
It sounds as if Charlie is lucky to live in southern England rather than northern New Zealand. But he better watch his back.
More about whales:
- TODAY video: Humpback whale 'waves' at boaters
- Flash interactive: All about whales
- Whale poo: Miracle grow for the ocean
- Dog stars in killer-whale stress study
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
It's a sad day when:
1. There is nothing really news worthy (except the Curiosity Rover) to comment on that this seem to be the most "interesting".
2. I haven't been on the vine for a few days and my first comment is on a article about "whale vomit" ... (yuck)
and 3. People actually fight over whale vomit as valuable........... In these economic times?... well now that I know.... I'm going to look at those "rocks" on the beach a little more closely.... (I feel ill)
Actually, there's a lot going on today, between the GOP convention, the hurricane and Obama on Reddit. It took me a while to get back to this little item, which I was chipping away at earlier in the day. But this ambergris thing is pretty intriguing. Next thing you know, we'll be hearing about a spike in the market for frankincense and myrrh.
Ambergris has been highly valued by people of many cultures for centuries, so that's a lot of "economic times" for your comment to be applying to right there....
Either way he does have a point. Us humans are weird when it comes to defining what's valuable. But yeah, about the convention, that's definitely not really all that interesting considering the next president is 'preordained' regardless of whether or not people have a choice. I mean, look at it this way - if I were one of the main players in a world government, I definitely wouldn't give the people a choice because they really wouldn't know any better.
I will be filing this article right next to the "Panda Peeing" article from yesterday! Maybe they will have a article on what makes Garden Gnomes giggle?
I hope that makes sense to you, at least
I'm with doug. One could sort of, kind of gather what zafada_dynamic was trying to say: that the political contest for the presidency is fixed.
But beyond a vague sense of his (or her) paranoid suspicions, one could not tell why.
How much might a chunk of-- say, solidified cat vomit might be worth? :)
Supply and demand.
At least no one is slaming anyone on this article. I hope the child gets the most money he can for that nasty thing.
they use whale vomit in perfume...and bat guano in mascara...wonder what kind of nasty stuff they use in lip stick...
To answer your lipstick question, do you know what happens to the deer you see on the side of the road?
I remember finding a chunk of that stuff a couple of years ago on the beach one evening. I chucked it into the ocean. Wish I hadn't now.
One man's feces is another man's gold, eh?
Actually it kinda looks like a sub sandwich with a bite taken out! BTW, I've smelled what comes out of the top end of a whale on a whale watching tour and trust me when I tell you it isn't pleasant. They leave that little tidbit off the brochure... Hard to believe they would actually use it in perfume.
Thar she blows.
If you're going to spew, spew into this.
Whaaaaale Chit....whad'll they think of next?!
If it's worth anything, I probably have a fortune in my basement....
and to think of the opportunity I missed when I walked right by an intoxicated Rosie O'donnel puking in the gutter outside Spazzo's.
Whale, your intellect is showing. Virtually every comment in here is a half empty cup. Negative.
I think it's sad day but for different reasons. Whale vomit makes more than me in a year...I gotta rethink my life.
Wow this has been my lucky week, I can now cross this off of my bucket list of things to know, first it was Male Panda Pee now this.....
I do love the off beat quirky reporting MSNBC is known for - this was interesting to me. In most cases I find that we are overloaded on the same story over and over again.
Can I say it was kinda refreshing to find out someone is going to get some monetary padding by finding whale vomit?
It's called - human interest stories. If you want straight news all the time - go to CNN or US News or some other outlet.
Keep them coming NBC!
All this news article is doing is putting this kid in danger!
MrKnowitAll,
Gnomes giggle as they bath in panda pee, while furry poodle moths flit about them and two faced cats look on.
I found this rather interesting. I had just read a book where ambergris was the key to the plot. It went into a lot of detail on why it was so valuable. Apparently Rasputin was quite fond of the stuff.
I like the part about Gnomes bathing in Panda Pee, that made ME giggle!
What is newsworthy seems to be a constant point of contention. Searching and reading about 'the purposes of journalism' could clear this matter up.
They use fish scales in lipstick and horse pee in birth control pils.
Is there anyone else beside me who just thought of the Futurama episode?
"Come on Mushu! Barf! Barf like a freshman!" - Amy
"Whale biologist!" - Whale Biologist
"Precious hamburgers?" -Kiff
You were not the only one... lol
To this day, I call "Whale biologist!" when stating my opinions :)
"Who smells like freaking porpoise hork?"
It is illegal to sell ambergris in the US as it is "part of a whale" and whales that produce it are endangered.
But you wouldn't kill a whale to get it, that's like killing the goose that shat the golden turd
Greedy people would.
No, because it's not a real easy matter to kill a big sperm whale, and it's very far from guaranteed that there's ambergris inside any given one, from what I've read.
Am i doing my math wrong..i come out with 6,000 or 30,000?? hhmmm this means something.
now THERE's a sensible law.....protecting poop....this is what our politicians do all day!
If you don't vote, what do you care.
JACKPOT! Don't matter where it is illegal, that just means there is more of a market for it in those countries. Sell it, go to college! Should be able to sell, what's the big deal if the kid killed the whale be kinda hard for him to stuff the body in the back of mom's mini-van and dump it off some backwoods road. Nice lotto ticket! I know I would pursue a purchaser for this item.
If it is endangered, yet some people really want a specific piece of it (all pieces can be sold), there will be somebody desperate enough to supply it.
Totally confusing. Picking up whale vomit hurts the endangered whales? Or is it that people catch the whales for the ambergris?
And for that matter, how do you get a whale to vomit? Punch it in the gut or what..? I suppose you could cut the whale open? I don't know.
Mike S. - "punch it in the gut?" LOL
To Alan Boyle: I thought it was a very interesting article. Good thing this little boy and his parents took the time to research his find.
Agreed and hope that we're given an update.
this article...if i was a whale it would make me want to puke...$$$$...
Very interesting.. So what other animal feces is worth big bucks? I am rethinking beachcombing.. I'm not just going to be looking for sand dollars and star fish anymore.. lol..
@Mike, I was thinking you'd have to stick your finger down it's throat. lol
What made the whale sick?
Rough seas?
Probably watching the US election campaigns.
What a great find Charlie! Congratulations to you, beware of the scammers, and other greedy bastards who would do anything to strip you of your new found wealth and road to success and secure future.
Nice compliment vet 2640...but why spoil it with a negative at the end. We all know what the world is like.
How'd he spoil it? Maybe the kid at his ripe old age of 8 doesn't know how the world is and he was giving a friendly warning..
Thanks for the clarification "Laulaus", a true citizen of the world.
Charlie's Golden Ticket - not exactly what you would expect, actually.
Either way any money he makes should go towards schooling. He's going to need it in this economy.
I have heard the phrase "In this economy" since I was born. Does that mean there has never been a good economy???
Pretty much, except in the late 50s & early 60s. At least that's what my parents told me when I was growing up.
I would agree with you. I think what it stems from is everyone thinks back and remembers "The good old days." When in fact there never were any good old days. It is a common thing for humans to long for a time when things were more simple. Situations are different too. I asked my parents about the Great Depression. They stated they never knew it was happening. They owned thier own farm. Grew thier own food. Made thier own clothes. Had a well pump for water. Didnt have electricity. Raised and butchered thier own chicken, pork, beef, lamb. Made thier own corn meal and milked thier cows and made thier butter. My mother stated her only complaint was that thread and cloth got a little high, and you had to order sugar and flour. My father complained that he couldnt get cigars sometimes. So while some people were in bread lines and starving my parents thrived (some of the lucky few). So if you ask them "The good old days" were in the middle of one of this nation's greatest finacial nightmares.
then happy days are here again! wheeeeeeeeeee!
"this economy" always seems to me a lot like older people who say things like "today's kids" or "young people today" and then go on to extoll the virtue of their own generation... even though I know my great-grandmother felt my grandparent's generation (the so-called Greatest Generation) were scandalously bad parents and superficial. Of course my grandmother told me older family members felt my great-grandmother's generation were going to hell in a hand basket and ruined the world during the 20s and 30s. Wow i am off topic.
...... my poop smells like a rose ..... buyers anyone ?
Damn. I would but I just bought this huge bridge. The paper I got says I can now go from Manhattan to Brooklyn.... wish I'd known about your poop earlier.
were you perhaps eating whale vomit to make it smell that way?
Did any of you actually read the article? It's not really vomit. It's a build-up in the intestine that comes out the whale's rear. So you don't make it vomit.
And, yes. Greedy people would kill a whale just to see if it had any ambergris.
I guess I'm just an optimist, but I think every economy has good parts. I really believe that you just have to figure out how your skill set can work for you in any environment. Right now, used equipment (restaurants, construction, medical or mining) or time banking, or consignment shops...those are all growing like wildfire. Bartering.....etcetera. A real biggie going forward will probably be export: states have gotten huge amounts of money to push US manufacturers in other countries. Take a gander at Export.gov to see what other countries would like from the US....and then pop over to the SBA site to find a bank that finances those exports. Jim Straw has a great course (cheap!) called "Sell American!" And Good Luck....
Big Surprise!
The wealthy spritz themselves in whale $hlt, and walk around like they're superior.
I used to drink beer that tasted like 'panther pi$$'... does that make me special
"I used to drink beer that tasted like 'panther pi$$'... does that make me special".............
Absolutely!! Though I'll refrain from asking how you know what panther pi$$ tastes like.....them's be some big cats, I wouldn't want to get close enough to one to taste anything that comes from it.
Panther piss, eh Steve? Must have been a Coors drinker earlier in life huh? But yes, that does make you special.
panther piss does indeed make you special.
Hey my poop smells like roses, ah crap!!! roses are cheap. Damn you Obama it's all your fault.
hehe...roses that have been marinated in poop
It's VOMIT!! Why is that kid holding it so close to his face? Purel bath anyone?
Call the food network, I'm sure they have someone that would eat it!
Soon to be a "mystery ingredient" on Chopped.
Kinda like "bean shine*", Makes you so drunk, you shat yourself!
*Moonshine made from beans. My conceipt sure it will be a winner LOL
That's not ambergris.
That's a SANDWICH!
Wondered how long it would take 'whale @!$%#' to turn political!
everything political is pretty much whale poop
Who gives a @!$%#?
The whale, evidently...
"It's missing something..just needs something - oh how about that whale throw up we found - you thought it was pretty raunchy,well, to me it smelled like church, no - a cigar! "
Next thing, people have to have it - looking all over the beach for it. On the waters.
How do things like this get started?
I am super happy for that kid - what a glorious face ! But watch your back kid - it's tough out here. The pirates want it back.
Bet you 5 bucks Andrew Zimmern would eat it ...
Is it just me or does that thing look like a huge piece of delicious coffee cake?
He better watch his back!
.....so lets write an article about him telling what country he lives in and throw a picture up there and for the record just belt out how much money the whale poo is worth.
Looks like Charlie found his golden ticket. Good Boy, Charlie.