SHOCKING! Elderly woman discovers her doorstop is worth more than Rs 9 crore, here's why

Written By Pravrajya Suruchi | Updated: Sep 07, 2024, 09:47 AM IST

The amber has now been sent to the Museum of History

An elderly Romanian woman unknowingly kept a €1 million amber nugget as a doorstop for decades.

Viral News Update: In a small village in Romania, an elderly woman unknowingly kept a valuable treasure for many years, using it as a simple doorstop. This "doorstop" turned out to be a massive 3.5-kilogram (7.7 lb) nugget of amber, a fossilized tree resin, now valued at approximately €1 million (around Rs 9 crore). The amber, which is one of the largest ever discovered, was initially found in a local stream by the woman. The true worth of the nugget was only discovered decades later, thanks to Daniel Costache, the director of the Provincial Museum of Buzau. After realizing its significance, the amber was sent to the Museum of History in Krakow, Poland, where experts confirmed that it dates back between 38.5 and 70 million years.

Sadly, the woman who originally found the amber passed away in 1991, never knowing the true value of what she had discovered. After her death, a relative inherited the stone. For many years, it was simply kept as a keepsake until the relative realized it might be more than just a regular rock. The decision was made to sell it to the Romanian government, where experts finally confirmed its incredible worth. Daniel Costache emphasized the importance of this discovery, both for scientific research and for museum collections. Interestingly, the woman's family shared that during a robbery at her home, thieves overlooked the amber completely, only taking some inexpensive gold jewelry.

Romania, particularly Buzau County, is known for having some of the richest amber deposits in the world. Geologist Oscar Helm even gave these deposits a special name, calling them "rumanit" or "Buzau amber." The area is also home to a nature reserve where valuable amber has been found in the past. Although the old Stramba amber mine was once highly valuable, it was eventually shut down by the government due to a decline in profitability.

According to the World Record Academy, the Colți Museum Collection in Romania contains 200 pieces of processed and raw amber, ranging from small nuggets to large pieces weighing several kilograms. These amber pieces come in 162 different shades, including yellow, red, brown, dark brown, and black. Some of the stones even contain tiny fossils, such as insects, crustaceans, and bird feathers, preserved inside the amber. The museum's star exhibit is a piece of black amber from Colți, showcasing the unique beauty of Romania's amber treasures.

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