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Russia’s Peace Stone in the rough: Unique amber nugget unearthed near Kaliningrad

A large amber stone weighing 1.8 kg (4 pounds) has been extracted in a quarry belonging to the Kaliningrad Amber Combine

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. A large amber stone weighing 1.8 kg (4 pounds) has been extracted in a quarry belonging to the Kaliningrad Amber Combine, part of Russia’s Rostec state corporation, a spokesperson for the enterprise in Russia's Baltic exclave told TASS on Friday.

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Record large amber uncovered in Russia’s westernmost region

According to expert assessments, the unique amber, which may be put up for auction, could be worth some 600,000 rubles ($9,000). The finding is a monolithic oval, light-brown and yellow piece containing inclusions of loose amber, without cracks, organic or non-organic veins, and its size is 200 x150 x105 mm.

"The amber was discovered in [the Primorsky quarry] on the International Peace Day and we made a decision to name the unique nugget the Peace Stone," the plant’s Director General Mikhail Zatsepin said.

The Peace Stone is the largest out of nine unique pieces found in 2018. According to Zatsepin, earlier up to eight unique ambers were discovered in the Primorsky quarry during the season. In 2016, some 14 large stones were found and another 19 amber nuggets were unearthed last year.

The Kaliningrad Amber Combine is expected to extract 450 tonnes of amber in 2018.

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