On Tuesday, 28 June, the Amber Museum in Gdansk broke the Guinness World Record for the heaviest lump of amber. It was proved and confirmed in the presence of experts that the collection of the Gdansk Amber Museum holds the biggest piece of it in the world. It weighs as much as 64.2 kilograms (141.5 lb) and can be admired free of charge in the Museum’s seat in Wielki Mlyn (Great Mill). This is already the second Guinness World Record established in the city of Gdansk.
It is the biggest, heaviest, looks like a cosmic fossil and is located in Gdansk. The record-breaking piece of amber is in the collection of the Amber Museum in Gdansk. On Tuesday, June 28th, the official weighing and measuring took place, which will result in an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
Before the giant amber was put on the scales, its authenticity was confirmed by several experts. Among them were, among others, the representatives of amber circles and the representatives of the Regional Measures Office in Gdansk. Then the piece was taken out of the glass, tightly closed display case. The measurement result: was 68 kg 200 g, which is a world record. Amber was later additionally measured by laser technology. Its dimensions are: 74 x 57.1 x 42.1 cm (29.1 x 22.5 x 16.6 in).
The previous record was held by a lump of amber from Sumatra, weighing over 50 kg (110.2 lb).
“Its entry in the Guinness Book of Records is nearly six years old. Amber has never been presented to the public. It is part of a private collection of a businessman from Singapore,” explains Andrzej Gierszewski, the spokesman of the Gdansk Museum.
Amber, which is the jewel in the crown of the Gdansk Museum, comes from Sumatra, or to be more precise, from the lignite mines near the town of Gunung Tua. Sumatran amber may be found in Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia. Geologists estimate that it was formed 20-23 million years ago.
The amber was purchased for PLN 140,000 (around $31,000) from the grant of the state budget within the framework of the project of the National Institute of Museology and Collections Protection, and now it can be viewed free of charge in the Museum’s seat in the Great Mill.