Rock Used as Doorstop Turns Out to Be Gemstone Worth Millions of Dollars

A man got the surprise of his life when a rock in his property turned out to be worth over $1 million. The 3.5 kilogram (7.7 pound) stone was found by an old woman in southeast Romania, across a stream bed, Science Alert reported. The rock caught her eye and she carried it to her residence.

The woman did not realize that the rock in her possession was one of the biggest intact chunks of amber in the world, EL PAIS reported. Amber is a tree resin that existed millions of years in the past. Over centuries, these resins transformed into a hard substance, now widely recognized as a gemstone, known as Rumanite. 

In Romania, such amber pieces are usually found around the village of Colti in sandstone from the banks of the River Buzau, Science Alert reported. Public and private authorities have been mining the pieces in the region since the 1920s. 

The old woman found the rumanite in Colti. She used it as a door stopper, which was such an unexpected function for a jewel of such value, that it missed the eyes of even a group of thieves. 

In 1991, the woman breathed her last and the house passed on to a relative. The relative felt the rock might be valuable and took it for analysis. After finding its true identity, he sold the amber to the Romanian state.

The Romanian State got the gem appraised by experts at the Museum of History in Krakow, Science Alert reported. The experts concluded that the amber must be around 38 and 70 million years old. They added that the amber piece was one of the largest known amber nuggets in the world, valued at around €1 million, EL PAIS reported. The rock has now been classified as a national treasure of Romania and remains at the Provincial Museum of Buzau, since 2022.