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from: Smelly
27 Dec 2006
02:54:32
64.12.117.7
MONTAUK, N.Y. - A mysterious gift given to a Montauk, N.Y., woman from her sister might be a valuable piece of petrified whale vomit, experts said. Dorothy Ferreira said the four- pound item, which might be worth as much as $18,000, was given to her by her sister, The New York Times reported Monday. "I called my sister and asked her, 'What the heck did you send me?'" Ferreira said. "She said: 'I don't know, but I found it on the beach in Montauk 50 years ago and just kept it around. You're the one who lives by the ocean. Ask someone out there what it is.'" Walter Galcik, an expert on such matters, examined the unattractive lump and concluded it might very well be ambergris, a valuable perfume ingredient created in the intestines of sperm whales and vomited into the ocean. "He told me, 'Don't let this out of your sight,'" she said. However, selling the item could prove troublesome for Ferreira. Endangered species legislation passed in the 1970s complicates the process of trading in ambergris. An Australian couple who found $300,000 worth of the substance on a beach has faced multiple legal challenges in their attempts to sell it.
