AMBER: WINNING ON THE PRUSSIAN COAST 545 



find employment in the sorting-rooms at Konigsberg, so that the production of amber by 

 the firm of Stantien and Becker alone provides a livelihood for upwards of 1000 men and their 

 families. In 1884 the total production of amber in East Prussia was 3000 hundred- 

 weights, of which 1000 hundredweights was obtained by di'edging at Schwarzort, where 1000 

 workpeople were employed ; 1700 hundredweights from the mine at Palmnicken, employing 

 700 workers ; 200 hundredweights were obtained by divers out of the sea at Palmnicken ; 

 and the remaining 100 hundredweights were picked up on the shore, drawn from the water, 

 raked up from the sea-bottom, or dug up at various spots. In 1874, ten years before, the 

 total production was only 1100 hundredweights, from which the rapid increase in yield 

 can be seen. 



The winning of amber has occupied the inhabitants of the Baltic since very early 

 times. Articles of amber have been found in graves of the Stone age in East Prussia, 

 showing that the material was highly esteemed even at that time. It is not surpi'ising to 

 find that from the earliest times efforts have been made by the ruling powers to obtain 

 control of the amber deposits. Thus, amber was once declared to be the property of the 

 German Crown, the existence of some ancient right being possibly the basis of the 

 declaration. The material has remained Ci'own property up to the present day in all the 

 districts which were not taken by the Poles, that is to say, in East Prussia. In West 

 Prussia and other districts, though the amber-winning industry is subject to certain 

 imposts, the material itself was not, nor is it now, the absolute property of the Crown. 



Up to the year 1811 the rights of the State were strictly enforced, and the privilege 

 of collecting and selling amber from the sea-shore was granted only to persons ^^■ho paid 

 for it. The impossibility of preventing unlicensed persons from collecting amber, and the 

 demoralisation of the villages on the coast in consequence of the continued evasion of the 

 law, led the Government in 1811 to lease their rights, first to a company and afterwards to 

 a contractor. Under these conditions, which lasted until 1837, unlicensed persons were 

 strictly forbidden to pick up even the smallest fragments of amber, and any infringement 

 of these regulations was visited with the severest punishment. 



These restrictions did not entirely achieve their object, for at certain favourable spots 

 along the coast the inhabitants of the villages still succeeded in smuggling a certain amount 

 of amber. In 1837 the irksome restrictions were wholly removed, and the shore from 

 Nimmersatt on the Russian border as far as PoLsk, east of Danzig, was leased to the shore 

 communities themselves, who then had the right to pick up amber on the shore, draw it 

 out of the sea, rake it up from the sea-bottom, dig for it in the land bordering on the sea, 

 and sell it to whomsoever they would. Further to the west, as far as the mouth of the 

 Weichsel, the town of Danzig had long before that time rights to work in the same manner. 

 In 1868, however, when it had been found that a profitable working of the littoral deposits 

 of amber required the expenditure of a considerable amount of capital and skill, not in the 

 power of the villagers to give, the mining rights were withdrawn from the inhabitants of 

 the shore villages in favour of persons better fitted to exercise them. The subsequent 

 increase in the total production of amber, consequent on the introduction by Stantien and 

 Becker of dredging in 1860 and mining in 1873, has been already pointed out. Dues are 

 paid by this firm and by others engaged in similar operations to the owners of the rights. 



An interesting light is thrown on the development of the amber-producing industry by 

 a comparison of the yearly revenues derived by the State from this source. Up to the year 

 1811, when the industry was State-managed, the yearly income was .f'llOO. From 1811 to 

 1837, when the rights were leased to a company and then to a contractor, the yearly 

 income amounted to ^"1500; the taxation of the village communities brought in ,£1700; 



2 m 



