An elderly woman in Romania kept an at least 38.5-million-year-old amber nugget for decades and died without knowing its nature and worth, El País reported Tuesday.
The woman discovered the 7.7-lb stone in a streambed in the southeast Romanian village of Colți and used it as a doorstop until her passing in 1991 — two years after the fall of communist rule in 1989, Director Daniel Costache of the Provincial Museum of Buzău told the outlet. Not even some jewel thieves who once broke into her home and stole a few pieces of inexpensive gold jewelry reckoned with the object, he reportedly confirmed.
A relative who inherited the fossilized tree resin reportedly reexamined it and believed that it could be a valuable semi-precious stone. He sold it to the national government, which soon declared it a national treasure, the outlet revealed.
The gemstone is between 38.5 and 70 million years old and worth over $1 million, according to Polish experts at the Museum of History in Krakow who verified the stone’s authenticity to the Romanian authorities.
The World Record Academy (WRA) described the ancient gemstone as “a black amber nugget” or Rumanit amber and the largest of its kind globally.
The object’s new home is the Provincial Museum of Buzău in southeastern Romania, El País reported.
“Its discovery represents a great significance both at a scientific level and at a museum level,” Costache told the outlet. (RELATED: Archaeologists Announce Discovery Of Iconic Sword Lost In WWII)
🗞️One of the largest known amber nuggets in the world, valued at around €1 million, has been found in a private home in Romania. The elderly woman who found it in a riverbed used it as a simple doorstop for decades without anyone realizing its value https://t.co/RSGya8q07B
— El País English Edition (@elpaisinenglish) September 3, 2024
Romania has some of the world’s most significant amber deposits, according to El País. Buzău is reportedly one of the amber-rich areas in the country. Romanian amber has a distinctiveness and has been named rumanit, a name given to it by Oscar Helm, according to the WRA. These are also known as Buzău amber, El País reported. Amber stones in the area may reportedly bear in them fossilized arachnids, flies, beetles, reptiles, crustaceans, bird feathers and animal hair, as well as other finds.
Colți, located in Buzău, is home to the Amber Museum. The museum was established in 1972 and opened its doors in 1980, according to its website.
Folk wisdom held that the gemstones brought luck to one’s home and powder from them could be employed to make tinctures and, when added to Buzău brandy, as medicine against the common cold, according to Adevărul.
The area is also home to the former Stramba amber mine, El País reported. The mine reportedly used to be one of the most productive until the communist government deemed it unprofitable and shut it down.
