Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-06
WHAT AMBER IS.
The Hardened Gum of an Extinct
Evergreen Tree.

The Hardened Gum of an Extinct
Evergreen Tree.
From the st. Paul Globe.
A. Becker of East Prussia, Germany, a
member of the firm of Stantien & Becker,
who own and operate the greatest amber
mines in the world, the Anna and the
Palmnicken, located on the north coast Of
the Baltic sea, which furnishes over 30 per
cent Of the amber sold to the markets Of
the world, said recently to reporter:
Our firm supplies over 30 per cent of the
amber and amberoid sold in the markets
of Europe. Great Britain, Asia, Japan,
China and America. Amberoid is the re-
suit of small pieces of amber compressed
into one solid mass by hydraulic pressure
We employ in our mines and manufacture
ing processes about 1000 people, who pre-
pare our products for the market, ready
for the manufacturer. We make no manu-
featured goods. Our output is the crude
material and amounts annually to about
s1.OOO.O00" Mr.. Becker then exhibited an
elegant cigarette holder of whitish amber
ornamented with gold.
This little holder" said he, Exclusive of
its mountings, is worth S." Continuing
he said: Very little of the real amber is
shipped to the United States. Most of that
which is called amber here is only am
.
evergreen tree, but of what species no one
knows. 1t belonged to the first period of
vegetation of the earth. No one knows in
what CLINE these trees grew, and no fossil
traces of them are left for the geologist
1t is not improbable that they produced
amber and were stately trees millions of
years ago. We have certain traces how
ever, that give us an excellent idea of the
time the gum left the parent tree, such as
insects and particles of vegetable matter
entombed in amber and faithfully preserved
to this modern time.
by the way, it might be of certain in
tereSt for me to give you briefly the theory
of DR.. r. Klebs of Konigsberg as to amber
He is the highest authority on this subject
in the world. He says there are 1000 differ
ent varieties of insects found imprisoned in
amber, and this gives us a pretty correct
idea of the fauna in the remote age in
which they lived. They gave u.s. besides
evidences of that period of which we have
no other trace. 1t is very interesting to
compare these insects with those now ex-
listing, as the common fly, for example
Others, again, are entirely different show
ing extinct species. DR.. Klebs' theory is
that the amber was carried to East Prussia
during the glacial epoch and imbedded in
the blue earth where it is found. This blue
earth is very heavy clay, and the strata
vary in thickness from three to twenty
seven feet. DR.. klebs considers that this
Embedding process occurred in what geolo-
gists term the tertiary period.
THE right to mine amber or to take it
from the sea dates back to the time the
first knights who coloniZed East Prussia
appeared-in the fifteenth century They
had the primary right to mine. Subsequent
ly the right merged in the government
which granted the privilege to private par
ties for an annual consideration. My firm
pays the Prussian government every year
100000 marks for the right, which equals
about s250,000 in your money. We mine
and market between eighty and ninety diff
ferent sizes of amber for shipping. The
largest and most perfect specimens are
made into mouthpieces for pipes, &c. and
the smaller pieces are made into the beauti-
full amber varnish, which is largely used
in the interiors of steamships railroad
coaches and on fine furniture"