In order to verify the authenticity of the ambergris, Siriporn and her neighbours held a naked flame up to the mass, causing part of it to melt and then harden again after cooling.Īnd in April 2016, a 1.57-kg ambergris ball found in Lancashire, UK, sold for £50,000 while in November of that same year, three Omani fishermen found 80kg of the substance and sold it for £2,205,942. Siriporn Niamrin, 49, had been walking along the beach after a rainstorm when she noticed a large mass washed up on the shore in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Thailand on February 23.Īs she got closer, she noticed the substance smelled like fish, so she dragged the mass away from the beach - believing her find could be worth some money.Īt 12 inches wide and 24 inches long and weighing around 15lb, the ambergris had an estimated value of £186,500. Pictured: One sample of ambergris weighed 7kgĮarlier that same month, a woman in Thailand couldn't believe her luck after stumbling across almost £190,000-worth of whale vomit near her beach house. Both were downhearted when they returned to shore empty-handed but found two large chunks of whale vomit. The lucky find was uncovered after a group of fishermen were alerted to a sperm whale carcass floating in the Gulf of Aden by a fisherman from Seriah.Īsaree Pooad abandoned his fishing trip with his father due to monsoon rains in the Satun province in March this year. In February this year, thirty-five fishermen in Yemen were lifted out of poverty after unexpectedly finding £1.1million worth of whale vomit in the carcass of a sperm whale. The solid chunk has a foul smell at first but after the mucilage dries out, it develops a sweet and long-lasting fragrance, which makes it a sought-after ingredient in the perfume industry. The whale then vomits the mucilage which solidifies and floats on the surface of the ocean.
'If I can get a good price, I'll retire from working as a fisherman and throw a party for my friends.'Īmbergris is produced by sperm whales when bile ducts in the gastrointestinal tract make secretions to ease the passage of large or sharp objects.
I plan to sell the ambergris as I've already received a certificate to prove that it's real. Phetcharaj said: 'I'm so excited I don't know what to do. He kept the whale vomit wrapped in a towel for safety and hidden in a cardboard box before informing his relatives about the discovery.īefore the ambergris was tested at the university he examined the object first at home, imitating what he had seen on the news about the whale vomit.īurning pieces of the lump seemed to confirm that the substance was indeed ambergris as it quickly melted. Phetcharaj said: 'None of the villagers has ever seen or touched a real whale ambergris before that's why everybody was happy.' Many countries also ban the trade of ambergris as a way to discourage the illegal hunting and exploitation of whales - including Australia and the United States, although its trade is legal in the UK, France and Switzerland.įossilised evidence of the rare substance dates back 1.75 million years, and it is believed that humans have been using it for over 1,000 years.Īmbergris - or whale vomit - is considered a sea treasure and floating gold because of an odourless alcohol that is extracted to make a perfume's scent last longer. It is used by perfumers as a fixative - something that equalises vapor pressures, and thus the volatilities, of the raw materials in a perfume oil, as well as to increase the tenacity of a scent.įor this reason, it has historically been highly sought after by perfumers, and played a part in the prosperity of the whaling industry from the 18th to the mid-19th century, which saw some 50,000 sperm whales killed each yet.Īs a result, sperm whales - also hunted for their oil and bones - became an endangered species, leading to the International Whaling Commission imposing a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982. Ambergris - also often referred to as Whale Vomit or grey amber - is a solid, waxy, flammable and highly valuable substance produced in the digestive system of sperm whales.
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