kenb
Bronze Member
Beachcombers told discovery is not valuable ambergris
Mar 6 2008 by Hywel Trewyn, Daily Post
TWO walkers who believed they’d found £550,000 of valuable ambergris on a North Wales beach have been told it’s “fools gold”.
Sean Kane, 24, from Penrhyndeudraeth and Ian Foster, 39, from Trawsfynydd were walking one of their dogs across the beach at Criccieth when they noticed the substance known as “floating gold”.
Ambergris is whale vomit which, over time, turns into a sweet-smelling waxy substance traditionally highly prized for making perfume and musk.
The men were crossing their fingers their 110lb find was worth more than half a million pounds – but their hopes were dashed when they took a sample to be analysed Dr Vera Thoss, environmental chemist at Bangor University School of Chemistry.
She said: “We’ve broken the material into its components and we’ve got a fingerprint for a man-made substance.
“We suspect there was some sort of paraffin wax which went overboard from a container ship. “This substance is used to coat new cars and other items as a protective layer. The musty smell is the smell of mineral oil.
“Because the Gulf Stream washes everything towards the North Wales coast, it means this could have floated from anywhere in the Atlantic.”
In July and August last year the Daily Post featured a number of stories of people who found the pungent treasure of ambergris near Llandrillo yn Rhos and Shell Island and Bennar near Harlech.
We then reported that thousands of pounds of ambergris was going to waste – because the finders said their efforts to sell it proved unsuccessful.
Not to be deterred, Sean and Ian have now sent a sample of their find to a an ambergris dealer in Grasse, France – the world centre for perfume.
“Sean said: “We have got to send the sample to France just to put it to rest.”
Solidified sperm whale vomit is released when the animal is ill at sea.
kenb
Mar 6 2008 by Hywel Trewyn, Daily Post
TWO walkers who believed they’d found £550,000 of valuable ambergris on a North Wales beach have been told it’s “fools gold”.
Sean Kane, 24, from Penrhyndeudraeth and Ian Foster, 39, from Trawsfynydd were walking one of their dogs across the beach at Criccieth when they noticed the substance known as “floating gold”.
Ambergris is whale vomit which, over time, turns into a sweet-smelling waxy substance traditionally highly prized for making perfume and musk.
The men were crossing their fingers their 110lb find was worth more than half a million pounds – but their hopes were dashed when they took a sample to be analysed Dr Vera Thoss, environmental chemist at Bangor University School of Chemistry.
She said: “We’ve broken the material into its components and we’ve got a fingerprint for a man-made substance.
“We suspect there was some sort of paraffin wax which went overboard from a container ship. “This substance is used to coat new cars and other items as a protective layer. The musty smell is the smell of mineral oil.
“Because the Gulf Stream washes everything towards the North Wales coast, it means this could have floated from anywhere in the Atlantic.”
In July and August last year the Daily Post featured a number of stories of people who found the pungent treasure of ambergris near Llandrillo yn Rhos and Shell Island and Bennar near Harlech.
We then reported that thousands of pounds of ambergris was going to waste – because the finders said their efforts to sell it proved unsuccessful.
Not to be deterred, Sean and Ian have now sent a sample of their find to a an ambergris dealer in Grasse, France – the world centre for perfume.
“Sean said: “We have got to send the sample to France just to put it to rest.”
Solidified sperm whale vomit is released when the animal is ill at sea.
kenb
LOL... ROFL... 
