Auction will hold in Kaliningrad region, Russia, where is located the world's largest amber deposit. JSC «Kaliningrad Amber Combine» (further – KAC) is the only enterprise in Russia and the biggest one in the world which mine amber in industrial way. Auction is organized by subsidiary jewelry company of KAC – JSC «Yantarniy Yuvelirprom». Never before has amber with inclusions, mined in Russia, been put up for open auction.
Inclusions – particles of prehistoric flora and fauna that are frozen in fossil resin. Most commonly, these are pieces of moss, fragments of plants and insects, whose age reaches 50-60 million years. It is believed that various inclusions are found in about 10% of the amber extracted. But amber with animal inclusions is even less common – the share of such stones does not exceed 2% of the total amount. The age of inclusions in Kaliningrad amber reaches 50-60 million years.
The best stones from the ones mined during 2019 will be presented at the upcoming auction. For sale will be on display some of the rarest stones in which large insects – spiders, flies, beetles – have been preserved in their original form. Inclusions are of particular scientific value – they study the animal and plant worlds that existed tens of millions of years ago. These stones can also be used as souvenirs.
Bidding will be held for the first time in two formats – full-time, as well as online, on an electronic trading platform. After a traditional auction in Radisson Blu Hotel hall in Kaliningrad, absentee bidding will be held on the electronic trading platform of JSC Saint-Petersburg Exchange.
The minimum value of a 4 gram souvenir amber is RUB 800 (about USD). The highest starting price for a stone weighing about 50 gram exceeds 17 000 RUB (about USD 275). The auction will be held on the increase of lot price. The auction step (bid increment) is 200 RUB (about USD 3).
Traditional auction of inclusions will be held on December 16, 2019.