382 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
Each of four perfume firms answering a query stated that it was 
rare for an individual to find genuine ambergris. Said one, “In all 
my 40 years’ experience as a perfume chemist I have yet to meet an 
individual who has found real ambergris.” 
Actually, people who have sent material to the Marine Laboratory 
in the past 16 years have a little better record than that: Two out of 
several hundred actually found the real thing. Both of these finds 
were in the Bahamas; one was a tiny piece weighing less than an 
ounce, while the other was much more worthwhile. This latter 
weighed about 200 pounds, consisting of one chunk of about 125 
pounds and numerous smaller pieces. It was found by Samuel Nixon, 
of Inagua, Bahamas, early in 1955 and was sold to a Nassau firm for 
£500. But for each of these two finds—one insignificant and one valu- 
able—there have been hundreds of blanks drawn by the beachcomers. 
HOW TO TEST 
The Laboratory has issued a bulletin describing tests which can be 
applied in identifying ambergris. Positive identification is the job 
of an expert, and even the best of these can sometimes be fooled. 
i. W. Bovill, who had intimate association with ambergris for many 
years as a dealer in the substance, relates how he and A. C. Stirling, 
another world authority on ambergris, paid a considerable sum for 
what they thought was a small piece of the valuable white variety— 
only to find on breaking it that it had a wick, and was a piece of wax 
candle, much weathered by the sea ! 
Despite the difficulties of foolproof identification, even a layman, 
by applying the tests below, can eliminate at least 95 percent of what 
he might hopefully believe to be ambergris. Says the bulletin in part: 
True ambergris * * * usually has the consistency of wax or pitch, but may 
be almost brittle * * * Ambergris will not dissolve in water, but floats even in 
fresh water, having a specific gravity between 0.78 and 0.98. It melts in hot 
(145° to 150° F.) water well below the boiling point. 
The simple hot wire or needle test for true ambergris requires no special 
apparatus. Heat a piece of wire or a needle in a gas or candle flame for about 
15 seconds and then press it into the sample to a depth of one-eighth of an 
inch. If it is genuine ambergris, a dark brown to black, opaque, resinous liquid 
will form around the wire and appear to boil. (If the sample is wax, the liquid 
will be clear). Then withdraw the wire and, before the melted material on 
the wire cools, touch it with your finger. True ambergris will leave tacky, 
pitch-like “strings” sticking to the skin. (Most waxy substances so treated either 
cleanly coat the fingertip or merely take its impression.) When cold, the string 
of melted ambergris is shiny and resembles dark brown or black enamel. 
When the wire, which retains portions of the melted material, is again placed 
in the flame, true ambergris will soon emit a white fume having the same charac- 
teristic odor as the solid, and then burn with a luminous flame. (Waxes do not 
emit fumes until almost ready to ignite, and the fume has a typical “hot wax” 
or acrid odor.) Note the odor of the smoke when the flame is extinguished. It 
should have the odor of burning rubber. 
