"Heirloom Whale Barf"

[dwenius]

Why do I never get gifts like this? No wait, on second thought...

Historic curiosity, courtesy of Wikipedia: one of the primary synthetic replacements for ambergris in perfumery is thujone. Meaning that, while Victorian era ladies of high caliber painted themselves in extract of sperm whale vomit, the thoroughly modern woman now paints herself with extract of absinthe. Ah, the sweet smell of progress.

Comments

[megasus4.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind an $18K blob of weird-looking stuff I could sell if someone gave it to *me* as a gift.

[dwenius.livejournal.com]

Ay, there's the rub. You can't sell it, legally, because of the endangered species act. So perhaps I need to amend the title to "black market heirloom whale barf!" :)

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

I gave my ex husband a big chunk of fossilized dinosaur dung (coprolite) for Christmas one year. But it was only worth $40.