Kaliningrad Amber Combine will put up for sale 70 lots of unique amber
Source：marshnews
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Moscow
Update Time：2023/08/01
The Kaliningrad Amber Plant (part of the Rostec State Corporation) presented rare amber nuggets, which will be auctioned at the International Amber Forum Amberforum-2023 in Svetlogorsk in June. This was reported in the press service of the plant.
Nuggets weighing more than 1 kg have their own names. For example, the largest nugget weighing 1,826 g, which will be sold at auction, is Moskovsky. Both Russian and foreign buyers will be allowed to participate in the auction.
A total of 24 nuggets mined from 2019 to 2022 will be on display. Of great interest are stones with inclusions of flora and fauna (inclusions), as well as drop-shaped amber - "drops". The age of all amber offered for sale is from 45 to 50 million years.
In total, 70 lots will be put up for auctions of unique amber, the total starting price is 16.9 million rubles. On June 22, the sale of nuggets and mixes of amber from 100 to 1,000 g will be organized, and on June 24 - inclusions and "drops".
Two nuggets weighing over 1000 grams were mined at once at the Kaliningrad Amber Combine on May 24, 2023. Rare samples of amber were named after the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet, Saints Cyril and Methodius, as they were found on the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture.
Nuggets "Kirill" and "Mefodiy" were mined in the amber-bearing layer of the Primorsky quarry and showed on the scales 1088 grams and 1232 grams, respectively. Stone "brothers" became the fourth and fifth nuggets mined this year at the Kaliningrad plant. No more than 20 such large samples of succinite are mined annually at the Primorsky quarry. Each giant found at the plant is assigned a number and a technical passport is issued with a description and main characteristics.
Methodius is a non-monolithic piece of distorted oval amber with a loose white structure with bright yellow transparent veins. "Kirill" is a rectangular monolith with a dense structure, with matte yellow side chips with white inclusions and figured stains.
“After the discovery of a nugget, we carry out a series of procedures - washing, drying, which take from one to several weeks. Each sample is unique and its features are included in the technical passport. Despite the fact that the stones were mined in the same place and on the same day, their parameters differ significantly, ”comments Anna Dugina, an expert gemologist at the Rostec Kaliningrad Combine.
The enterprise has developed and put into effect the “Yantar” standard, according to which large amber is recognized as a nugget according to the following criteria: weight over 1000 grams, any shape and color characteristic of natural amber, with possible inclusions of organic and inorganic origin, with possible internal and surface cracks, chips, shells and layers.
According to the tradition existing at the Amber Combine, all nuggets are given names in honor of a holiday or an important event that took place on the eve or on the day the find was mined.
Nuggets are purchased by amber processors and collectors. Processors buy large specimens for the manufacture of exclusive products from a single piece of amber. There are many who acquire unique amber to replenish their collection.
In 2023, only 5 nuggets have been found at the plant since the beginning of the year. The first three were named "Student", "Afghan" and "Glamorous". Within the framework of the VI International Economic Forum of the Amber Industry AmberForum 2023, a traditional auction of nuggets will be held, at which 25 stones with a total weight of 32 kg, mined from 2019 to 2022, are put up.
The increase in the volume of amber production by the Kaliningrad Combine is in line with the State Strategy for the Development of the Amber Industry until 2025. Since 2015, Rostec has invested 1 billion 700 million rubles in the development of the enterprise. The funds were used to modernize the mining complex on the territory of the Primorsky quarry, purchase and upgrade the fleet of special equipment, equip jobs and create a modern jewelry production. Thanks to this support, over the past ten years, the number of employees of the plant has tripled - from 356 people in 2013 to 1080 people in 2022, and production has doubled - from 250 to 500-550 tons annually.
MASHNEWS note:
JSC "Kaliningrad Amber Combine" is the largest in the world and the only enterprise in Russia that conducts industrial mining of amber, near the village of Yantarny, where about 90% of the world's amber reserves are concentrated, about 50 million years old. The plant annually extracts about 500 tons of raw materials, while amber reserves are estimated at 116,000 tons.
Source: https://mashnews.ru/kaliningradskij-yantarnyij-kombinat-vyistavit-na-prodazhu-70-lotov-unikalnogo-yantarya.html