An elderly woman in Romania was using a seven-pound rock as a doorstop for decades - which later turned out to be one of the largest known amber nuggets in the world.
As Spanish newspaper El País reports, the stone is being valued at around $1.1 million, making it an exceptionally extravagant way to hold open a door. Ironically, the extremely rare find was also ignored by thieves who broke into her home to steal her jewels.
The woman, who died in 1991, found the rock in a nearby river near the southeastern town of Colti. Eventually, one of her relatives, who inherited the rock, suspected it may be worth something, selling it to the Romanian state. Authorities at the Museum of History in Krakow, Poland, later confirmed it as being an extremely rare amber stone, estimated to be anywhere between 38.5 and 70 million years old.
"Its discovery represents a great significance both at a scientific level and at a museum level," says Daniel Costache, director of the Provincial Museum of Buzau, which is currently in possession of the rock.
Amber, the fossilized remains of tree resin, has been seen as highly valuable since the Neolithic times. Despite its association with the color "amber," the gem can take on different colors, depending on the substances trapped within it. The stones are also known to trap insects or other smaller animals within them millions of years ago, making them of paleontological value.
The amber associated with the Buzau region of Romania tends to range in colour from red to black.
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