+"Bolinas Beach California USA" +1934 stock footage and images

Large numbers of enthusiastic people looking for ambergris in the sands of Bolinas Beach, California.

People dig in the sand and take out chunks of a bad-smelling substance, they believe is ambergris (a valuable perfume base, worth about $100 an ounce). They hold chunks of the material in their hands and happily pose for pictures on the beach and in their homes. (Note: although initially identified by a laboratory, as ambergris, the substance was soon determined not to be. Rather, it was found to be some sort of waste material, and was identified as waste from offshore shipping, by the Marin County Department of Public Works. New York experts described it as a vegetable substance, and other suggestions were made. But all authorities agreed it was not ambergris. Thus, the excitement quickly waned and life in Bolinas Beach returned to normal within a month.)