20/02/2026
Lot 160 Summer Auction 05/08/25 Estimate £80 – £120, sold for £220
The name coco de mer translates as "coconut of the sea". The nut and tree of the coco de mer is a rare species of palm tree native to Africa, which grows in the Seychelles. Coco de mer is very large (the largest seed in the plant kingdom) and is considered to be the shape and size of a woman's buttocks on one side, and a woman's belly and thighs on the other side.
When a coco de mer fruit falls into the sea, it does not float. After the fruit has been on the sea bed for some time, the nut decays and the gases that form inside cause it to rise up to the surface. Malay seamen had seen coco de mer nuts "falling upwards" from the sea bed, and so they reasoned that these nuts must grow on underwater trees, in a forest at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. In the Maldives, any coco de mer nuts that were found in the ocean or on the beaches were supposed to be given to the king, and keeping a nut for yourself or selling it could have resulted in the death penalty.* (* with thanks to Wikipedia)
Other bounty from the sea, occasionally seen at auction, is Ambergris, ( ambergrease, or grey amber) is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of s***m whales.
Freshly produced ambergris has a very unpleasant odour but it acquires a sweet, earthy scent as it ages and has been highly valued by perfumiers as a fixative allowing the scent to last much longer. Dogs are attracted to the smell of ambergris and are sometimes used by ambergris hunters.
In 2023 a section of ambergris, approximately 22cm wide, 701g in weight, was sold at auction in the UK for £2,200. It had been found on the Isle of Harris.
