A Whale of a Profit!

Sean Kane and Ian Foster hit the motherlode on a beach in South Wales when they stumbled across a gargantuan lump of “ambergris,” one of the most coveted–and pricey–ingredients in the scent marketing industry. Weighing in at 110 pounds, their discovery has caught the attention of fragrance manufacturers in a big way.

So, what exactly is this stuff? Put simply, it’s Whale Vomit.

Also called “grey amber” or “floating gold,” ambergris is actually bile secreted by sperm whales. Fresh ambergris smells absolutely horrible, but, after a few years’ exposure to the elements, the substance develops a sweet, musky and alluring smell that leading fragrance makers say adds a distinct and highly appealing character. “We just came across this white, waxy lump,” said Kane. “I said to Ian, ‘It looks a bit like whale sick’. He had never heard of anything like it.”

Kane and Foster face a couple of stumbling blocks in converting the upchuck to big bucks: Recent years have seen a massive shift away from expensive natural ingredients by fragrance producers toward less pricey and more readily-available synthetic substitutes. Currently, only one facility exists in all the world which is even capable of processing ambergris.

Still, a number of fragrance designers continue to incorporate ambergris into their formulations, including Kenneth Cole and Christian Dior, and the lucky beachcombers have high hopes. How much do they stand to realize if they find the right buyer for their hefty chunk of whale vomit? Leading supplier Ambergris.co.nz currently markets ambergris at $20 a gram, which places the market value of 110 pounds at $997,900.00.

You read it right: Nearly one million dollars. Not a bad haul, just because a big fish ate a bad squid and suffered a bout of indigestion.