544 SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF PRECIOUS STONES 



When the working of the "blue earth" in open diggings was commenced is not 

 •definitely known, but the diggings were probably in full operation as early as 1836. To 

 reach the amber bed, ^^■hich is onh' about one and a half spades in thickness, it is necessary 

 to remove a great weight of superimposed material, consisting of later Tertiary strata (the 

 lignite formation), and glacial deposits, often several metres thick, besides banking up the 

 pits to prevent the inrush of the sea. The cost of working is thus considerable, and the 

 fact that the deposit can be worked at a profit bears witness to its richness. In the 

 " banded sands " of the lignite formation which overlie the " blue earth " are irregularly 

 distributed pockets of amber. Though a considerable amount of material has been 

 obtained in open workings, the sands are not now systematically worked because of the 

 expense attending the process, and the bulk of the material is obtained from underground 

 mines in the " blue earth.'" 



Mining operations in the "banded sands" were undertaken by the Government as 

 far back as the end of the eighteenth century (1781), but after working for twenty-four years 

 these were abandoned. To the firm of Stantien and Becker belongs the credit of having 

 successfully initiated the system of underground mining in the " blue earth," a system 

 which has been followed with increasing profit up to the present day. 



At the beginning of the seventies two attempts were simultaneously made in this 

 ■direction. The Royal Prussian Mining Administration opened workings at Nortycken, 

 near Rauschen, some distance inland from the north coast of Samland, but these had to be 

 abandoned because of the impossibility of preventing the entry of water into the pit from 

 the ^vater-bearing blown sands lying above the " blue earth." The workings opened by 

 Stantien and Becker at Palmnicken, between Pillau and Briisterort, on the west coast of 

 Samland, were a brilliant success. The success of this attempt led, in 1870, to the 

 construction of a large open working on the shore itself, the output of which for a period 

 of five years showed a steady increase. The amber-bearing stratum lies here 6 to 8 metres 

 below sea-level, and dams of massive wood-work were required to protect the open diggings 

 from the sea. The underground workings are free from this objection, as also from the 

 interruption of work in the cold season of the year, and, moreover, they do not necessitate 

 the lying fallow of a large area of fruitful land. At this place the whole of the amber- 

 bearing " blue earth " is excavated from shafts, levels, and galleries, the amber so obtained 

 being freed from the earth which adheres to it by washing in specially constructed 

 appliances. 



The amber thus obtained and cleaned, the so-called dam-stone, is enclosed in a thick 

 crust of weathered material, which is removed in the cask-washers. In this operation the 

 amber is placed with water and sharp sand in rotating barrels, which are kept in motion 

 until the last trace of the opaque crust is removed. Another operation, the so-called 

 Klebs' washing, completes the preparation of the rough material, which cannot then be 

 distinguished from sea-amber. It is next examined with regard to colour, transparency, 

 and the presence or absence of cracks, with the object of deciding its value and the class of 

 work for which it is best suited, an impossibility in the case of material still enclosed in its 

 opaque crust. The stones thus prepared are then sorted, the different qualities being 

 placed on the market separately. 



The increased yield of the mines has more than compensated for the exhaustion of the 

 deposits in the Kurisches Haft", which at one time was dredged for amber. In the year 

 1893 the mines yielded 6000 hundredweights of amber, half of which was suitable only 

 for the manufacture of varnish, while the other half consisted of pieces of medium size 

 suitable for ornamental purposes. Beside the 600 men engaged in the mines, 400 more 



