"World's biggest" amber nugget worth over $1 million used as doorstop for decades
An elderly woman in Romania has unknowingly used one of the largest known amber nuggets in the world - worth over €1 million ($1.6 million) - as her doorstop for decades.
The woman found the stone in the bed of a stream in Colti, a village in the southeast Romania, and used it as her doorstop for years without realising its value.
Members of her family also reported that thieves had once broken into her home, but only stole a few pieces of gold jewelry, missing the seemingly insignificant rock.
“In their frantic search for valuables, they overlooked the real treasure that was there before their eyes,” they said.
It wasn't until after the woman died in 1991 that a relative who inherited her home suspected the doorstop might be more than meets the eye - and he was right.
When he sold the amber to the Romanian state, experts at the Museum of History in Krakow, Poland appraised the rock and found that the amber is likely between around 38 and 70 million years old.
“Its discovery represents a great significance both at a scientific level and at a museum level,” Daniel Costache, director of the Provincial Museum of Buzau, told local news outlet El Pais.
The expert also claimed that the amber is one of the largest pieces in the world and the largest of its kind weighing a hefty 3.5-kilograms.
It has now been classified as a national treasure of Romania, and can be found in the Provincial Museum of Buzau, where it has been since 2022.
Romania is one of the countries with significant deposits of amber, with Buzau County being one of the areas where you can find these beautiful stones in abundance.
The protected area also contains the old Stramba amber mine, which was very productive during the first half of the 21st century, before it was shut down by the communist regime as it was considered unprofitable.
Image: Buzău County Museum