A chunk of rock being used by an elderly woman in Romania as a doorstop turned out to be her most expensive possession when it was discovered that the stone was worth $1.1 million.
The 3.5-kilogram stone was found by the woman near a stream in southeast Romania and she brought the bright red coloured stone home to use as a doostrop.
The rock turned out to be one of the biggest intact amber in the world worth around $1.1 million after experts claimed that it was likely around 38 to 70 million years old.
What is amber?
Amber is millions of year old tree resin which fossilised into a hard, warm- toned gemstone over time. Interestingly, Amber has been mined in Romania for hundreds of year yet the rumanite's value was unknown to its owner and even missed by jewel thieves who once targeted her home.
After the woman died in 1991, a relative who inherited her home believed that the stone could be valuable and sold it to the Romanian government. The Romanian authorities then send the large rock to specialists at the Museum of History in Krakow, Poland, which is home to a section dedicated to studying semi-precious stones.
Doorstop becomes national treasure
Polish experts quickly verified the amber's authenticity and estimated its age to be between 38.5 and 70 million years. Once its value and age was known, the amber was declared a national treasure and displayed at the Provincial Museum of Buzau.
{{/usCountry}}Polish experts quickly verified the amber's authenticity and estimated its age to be between 38.5 and 70 million years. Once its value and age was known, the amber was declared a national treasure and displayed at the Provincial Museum of Buzau.
{{/usCountry}}The discovery is similar to a case in Michigan, where a man unknowingly used a large rock as a doorstop for decades, only to later learn it was a meteorite valued at $100,000.
(Also read: 600-year-old mystery solved: Leonardo da Vinci’s secret tunnels discovered in Italy)