Would you have known this valuble item?

[SeverinR]

Sorry, meant to post this in CHit Chat.

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?ps=1020&rip_id=<DA457HU01%40news.ap.org>

Ken Wilman told British broadcasters that he had been walking along Morecambe beach in northern England when his dog, Madge, discovered a hard, soccer ball-sized piece of smelly rock.

"She wouldn't leave it alone. I picked it up and it smelt horrible so I knocked it with my walking stick and a small lump came off," he told Sky News television in comments broadcast Thursday. "I put both pieces back on the beach but something in the back of my mind told me it might be something unusual."

This smelly item was worth $68K or 50k Euro.

It is called ambergris.

 

[Chilari]

Isn't it whale vomit? I think I saw this on the Beeb earlier. Used in purfumes. For some reason.

 

[Butterfly]

I thought it was whale poo meself. One or the other, whichever it is, it's made inside the whale.

I've suddenly gone off perfumes now...

 

[danr62]

Apparently the stuff stinks at first, but starts to smell good later.

 

[Kit]

Yes, I read about it in some children's book about a zillion years ago. Can't recall which one.

 

[Mari]

Yes I would. But i am a vessel of odd.

 

[SeverinR]

Apparently the stuff stinks at first, but starts to smell good later.

I think it always stinks, but they add other smells to make it pleasant

Yes, I read about it in some children's book about a zillion years ago. Can't recall which one.

I think thats where I heard of it too.

 

[Anders Ämting]

One should probably generally assume that anything one doesn't recognize or understand is valuable.