Woman used €1M amber nugget as doorstop for decades, thieves missed it
An elderly Romanian woman unknowingly used a 3.5-kilogram amber nugget as a doorstop for decades before it was identified as a national treasure worth approximately €1 million. The rare specimen is now housed in the Buzau County Museum.
Why it matters
This story highlights the intersection of historical preservation and accidental discovery, emphasizing the cultural value of geological artifacts.
For decades, an elderly woman in Romania used what she believed was an ordinary reddish rock to keep her bedroom door open. But after her death, the 7.7-pound (3.5-kilogram) object was identified as an exceptionally large piece of amber, estimated to be between 38.5 million and 70 million years old.According to a September 2024 report by EL PAIS, which cited Daniel Costache, director of the Buzau County Museum, the amber was found in the village of Colti in Buzau County and is now classified as a national treasure of Romania.
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