during the Roman and Greek periods. It has even been 
postulated that, together with tin, it was one of the chief 
objects which led the Romans to penetrate the Gallic 
regions to the west and north of the Mediterranean. 
Amber provided a distinctive and imperishable barter 
item. As stated by Harris (1925), ‘‘The luxuries of life 
went out in search of the necessities,’ as the ‘‘uncivilized 
North sent treasures to the civilized South.’’ Previous 
to the 14th Century, amber was the property of the 
finder, and it was sought among seaweeds or washed up 
along the shores, especially after heavy November storms 
along the Baltic. Following this time in Prussia, how- 
ever, the ‘‘Rittenorder’’ (Order of Knights) made them- 
selves the owner of all amber. Amber was considered of 
sufficient value that, in 1466, any withholding of amber 
collected was punishable by hanging. The Order pro- 
moted the formation of guilds of amber-turners, erected 
warehouses and conducted sales over a large part of EKu- 
rope. Until the last war, the largest commercial produc- 
tion and sale of amber was from mines on the Samland 
Peninsula. In earlier times, the “‘gold of the sea’’ was 
collected commercially along the shores by amber fisher- 
men with specially constructed nets (Plate X LI) by men 
on horseback and later by divers. Extensive development 
of commercial operations began in 1837, when the state 
farmed out the mining to private companies. In 1860 
the amber trade received additional impetus from the 
enterprising mining techniques developed by the Stan- 
tien and Becker Firm. Complaints were so great against 
their monopoly, however, that the amber industry re- 
turned to the hands of the Prussian State in 1899. Many 
thousands of pounds were excavated by steam dredging, 
as well as by techniques involving quarrying out large 
open pits and subsequent washing by electrical ma- 
chinery. At one time amber was sorted into about 200 
[ 244 ] 
