Latest news with #DanielCostache
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A ‘rock' used as a doorstop for decades turns out to be worth €1million
One person's doorstop is another's life-altering treasure... A 3.5kg reddish chunk of 'rock' was found in a stream bed in southeast Romania by an elderly woman. She brought it home and used it to keep a door open for decades. After her death in 1991, a relative inherited her property and noticed the 'rock'. He decided to have it appraised... Verdict? The woman's door wedge revealed itself to be one of the largest intact pieces of amber deposits in the world. And how much would something like that be worth? Well, around €1 million. According to a report by El Pais, the fragment was bought by the Craotian government and subsequently sent to the Museum of History in Krakow, Poland. According to findings, the amber deposit is estimated to be between 38 and 70 million years old, likely originating from the resin of prehistoric coniferous trees. It was preserved and fossilized over tens of millions of years through intense geological pressure. Considering amber's medicinal properties as well as rumanite's status as a highly valued stone when it comes to jewelry, it's one hell of a discovery. Now classified as a national treasure of Romania and a protected cultural asset, the discovery currently has a home at the Provincial Museum of Buzău. "Its discovery represents a great significance both at a scientific level and at a museum level," Daniel Costache, director of the museum told El Pais. The museum has also announced plans for scientific analyses of the material, including studies of its composition, structure, and possible inclusions of ancient biological material. The story is reminiscent of a similar case in the US state of Michigan, where a piece of stone also used as a doorstopper for decades turned out to be a rare meteorite worth $100,000. The 10kg space rock was brought to Central Michigan University (CMU) for examination and it was identified in 2018. It is believed to have touched down in the 1930s on a farm in Edmore, Michigan. Mona Sirbescu, a geology professor at CMU, said at the time: "I could tell right away that this was something special. It's the most valuable specimen I have ever held in my life, monetarily and scientifically." Moral of the story? Not all treasure has to be golden - and keep your eyes peeled for what your family members are using to keep their doors ajar.
Euronews
03-04-2025
- Science
- Euronews
A ‘rock' used as a doorstop for decades turns out to be worth €1million
ADVERTISEMENT One person's doorstop is another's life-altering treasure... A 3.5kg reddish chunk of 'rock' was found in a stream bed in southeast Romania by an elderly woman. She brought it home and used it to keep a door open for decades. After her death in 1991, a relative inherited her property and noticed the 'rock'. He decided to have it appraised... Verdict? The woman's door wedge revealed itself to be one of the largest intact pieces of amber deposits in the world. And how much would something like that be worth? Well, around €1 million. According to a report by El Pais, the fragment was bought by the Craotian government and subsequently sent to the Museum of History in Krakow, Poland. According to findings, the amber deposit is estimated to be between 38 and 70 million years old, likely originating from the resin of prehistoric coniferous trees. It was preserved and fossilized over tens of millions of years through intense geological pressure. Considering amber's medicinal properties as well as rumanite's status as a highly valued stone when it comes to jewelry, it's one hell of a discovery. Now classified as a national treasure of Romania and a protected cultural asset, the discovery currently has a home at the Provincial Museum of Buzău. "Its discovery represents a great significance both at a scientific level and at a museum level," Daniel Costache, director of the museum told El Pais. The museum has also announced plans for scientific analyses of the material, including studies of its composition, structure, and possible inclusions of ancient biological material. The amber doorstop Buzău County Museum The story is reminiscent of a similar case in the US state of Michigan, where a piece of stone also used as a doorstopper for decades turned out to be a rare meteorite worth $100,000. The 10kg space rock was brought to Central Michigan University (CMU) for examination and it was identified in 2018. It is believed to have touched down in the 1930s on a farm in Edmore, Michigan. Mona Sirbescu, a geology professor at CMU, said at the time: "I could tell right away that this was something special. It's the most valuable specimen I have ever held in my life, monetarily and scientifically." Moral of the story? Not all treasure has to be golden - and keep your eyes peeled for what your family members are using to keep their doors ajar.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Rock Used as a Doorstop For Decades Found to Be Worth Over $1 Million
They say one person's trash is another's treasure, but a chunk of 'rock' used to keep a door open for decades is a treasure by pretty much anybody's standard. The 3.5-kilogram (7.7-pound) stone was found in a stream bed in southeast Romania by an elderly woman, who brought it home and put it to use. Her discovery turned out to be one of the biggest intact chunks of amber in the world, according to a report by El Pais. Its value? Somewhere in the region of €1 million – around $US1.1 million. Amber is tree resin from millions of years in the past. Over time, the highly viscous substance fossilizes into a hard, warm-hued material widely recognized as a gemstone. In Romania, pieces of amber can be found around the village of Colti in sandstone from the banks of the River Buzau, where it has been mined since the 1920s. Known as rumanite, this amber is famed and prized for its wide array of deep, reddish hues. The elderly woman who found this particular rumanite nugget lived in Colti, where it remained performing a function so humble that it was missed even by jewel thieves who once targeted the home, reports say. After the woman died in 1991, the relative who inherited her home suspected the doorstop might be more than meets the eye. On learning what he had, he sold the amber to the Romanian state, which had it appraised by experts at the Museum of History in Krakow in Poland. According to these experts, the amber is likely around 38 to 70 million years old. "Its discovery represents a great significance both at a scientific level and at a museum level," Daniel Costache, director of the Provincial Museum of Buzau, told El Pais. Classified as a national treasure of Romania, the nugget has had a home at the Provincial Museum of Buzau – the county in which the relic was found – since 2022. The discovery resembles that of a man in Michigan, who kept a large piece of rock as a doorstop, only to find out decades later that he was keeping his doors in place with a meteorite worth $100,000. A chunk of amber worth over a million dollars isn't a bad score, either, really. Just imagine how many doorstops you could buy. An earlier version of this article was published in September 2024. Antarctic Iceberg Breaks Away to Reveal a Never-Before-Seen Ecosystem Huge Trees Hiding in Plain Sight May Be a Species Totally New to Science Marmots Just Settled a 154-Year-Old Evolution Debate
