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recently, a beijing netizen posted that he picked up a piece of about 2 kilograms of object while traveling in weihai, shandong, and suspected it was ambergris. when appraising treasures online, it was considered to be very likely to be authentic, with 1 gram worth 8,000 yuan, and a value of more than 8 million yuan.

ms. wang posted on the internet that she found what she thought was "ambergris" in weihai.

"i seem to have picked up a suite by accident." recently, ms. wang (pseudonym) from beijing posted that she picked up an object that looked like ambergris while fishing in weihai. on the 19th, the reporter contacted ms. wang, who said she was an ordinary office worker in beijing. "at the end of august, i took a leave to travel to weihai, shandong. i saw on the internet that you can pick up beautiful shells in weihai, so i made a simple guide and went to weihai naxianghai to fish. while fishing and picking up shells, i found this thing."

from the video and pictures provided by ms. wang, we can see that the object is about 20 centimeters wide, with a rough surface. it is mostly white, with some gray-brown. ms. wang said: "it looks heavy, but it is only about 2 kilograms. it can float in water and can be ignited. it has grease. it was a bit smelly when i first picked it up. it was packed multiple times because of the odor when i took the plane. it doesn't smell anymore recently, but it still smells a bit when it gets wet."

the suspected "ambergris" picked up by ms. wang weighs about 2 kilograms.

after ms. wang posted the video and pictures online, they attracted the attention of many netizens. "there are more than 1.2 million views. some people said it was ambergris and very valuable. some people sent me a private message asking me to buy it for 0.8 yuan per gram. some people said it was spermaceti and not valuable. some people said it was garbage dropped from airplanes or ships. a local netizen from weihai rushed to naxianghai and asked me the specific location, saying he wanted to go treasure hunting."

on the 16th, ms. wang had a live broadcast with a famous treasure appraisal blogger. "i saw that the lighter could light it and bubbles came out. the blogger said that it was 80% real ambergris, worth more than 8,000 yuan per gram, and the total value was more than 8 million yuan." ms. wang said that she was also looking for other ways to conduct offline appraisals to determine whether this thing was the legendary ambergris.

on the 19th, the reporter called the naxianghai scenic area in weihai, and the staff said that they had never heard of anyone picking up ambergris in the scenic area. the staff of the weihai ocean development bureau office also said that they had never heard of anyone picking up ambergris in the local area, but they could convey the matter to the relevant departments to see if they could help ms. wang identify it.

expert response: identification is needed

on september 19, lin junru, a member of the national professional standardization technical committee (sac/tc311), said after seeing the relevant video and pictures, "it's hard to say." "it could be ambergris, but the quality looks like it's mostly fatty substances. the ambergris content may not be high, or it may be wrapped inside, but it could also be just marine garbage, a pollutant generated by oily garbage dumped into the ocean by humans."

a staff member of a professional appraisal agency in xiamen said: "it looks a bit like ambergris, but 8,000 yuan per gram is a bit too much. the current price of ambergris depends mainly on its quality, ranging from several hundred to thousands of yuan per gram." the staff member suggested that ms. wang could take some samples to the agency for appraisal to see how much ambergris content it contains.

according to reports, only when the content of ambrein reaches more than 25% can it be called ambergris. if the content is below 25%, it cannot be called ambergris. as for why it burns, it is because it contains wax.

man finds ambergris while walking on beach

previously, reports of tourists picking up ambergris were not uncommon.

according to the strait herald, in april 2019, mr. tao from xiamen was walking on the beach and picked up a piece of something smelly. experts identified it as a piece of ambergris weighing more than 200 grams, worth 500,000 to 700,000 yuan. according to the haixi morning news, on children's day in 2014, mr. chen from xiamen and his family were playing on the beach at guanyin mountain and also picked up a piece of ambergris weighing 220 grams.

ambergris picked up by xiamen citizens. photo courtesy of xiamen evening news

the reporter searched online and found a lot of similar news.

what exactly is ambergris?

according to experts, the essence of ambergris is the dried product of the intestinal secretions of sperm whales, a member of the sperm whale family. some sperm whales will spit it out, while others will excrete it from the intestines. only a small number of sperm whales will retain it in their bodies.

it is understood that the ambergris discharged into the sea is light black at first, and gradually turns gray, light gray, and finally white under the action of seawater. white ambergris has the best quality. it must be soaked in seawater for more than a hundred years to remove all impurities before it can become the best ambergris. ambergris can be used as a fixative for perfumes. because ambergris is rare and has a long-lasting fragrance, it is more valuable than gold, so it is known as "floating gold on the sea."

ambergris is a collection of chemical substances. it can only be called ambergris when the ambrein content reaches 25% or more. when the ambrein content exceeds 50% and is soaked in seawater for a long enough time, it will naturally emit fragrance.

studies have shown that most ambergris is produced in sperm whales, but some dwarf sperm whales also produce ambergris. there are also records showing that similar ambergris substances have been found in northern bottlenose whales and some species of baleen whales.