The VII International Economic Forum of the Amber Industry - AmberForum 2024 - kicked off yesterday in Svetlogorsk.
The most significant cultural and business event of the amber industry, organized by the Kaliningrad Amber Combine of Rostec, will be held from June 27 to 30 in the Yantar Hall of the Baltic resort, and its theme this year was “Harmony with Time.” The ancient amber gems at AmberForum 2024 will be presented as a transforming stone, changing to suit the needs of any generation.
As part of the business program, the amber industry will be examined through “the preservation of cultural values and the creation of fashion trends, the expectations of modern society and the market, the emergence of new technologies for production and subsequent sales.”
The forum traditionally sums up the results of creative and professional competitions.
This year, over 15,000 guests are expected to attend the event. Among them are connoisseurs and processors of “sunstone” from all regions of Russia, countries far and near abroad. Forum participants will enjoy an extensive entertainment program: the observation deck of the Primorsky quarry, descent into the quarry and “extraction” of amber, a visit to the Amber Museum, exhibitions of new jewelry masterpieces, fashion collection shows and a cultural program. But popularizing amber is only one of the tasks of the event.
AmberForum is primarily a business platform for exchanging experiences and developing important decisions in the amber industry.
And an invariable part of the business program of the annual AmberForum are auctions of rare stones, including nuggets and stones with visible inclusions, which attract the attention of business people from the UAE, Hong Kong, China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Egypt and Cuba, not to mention businesses from Russia.
The auction of unique amber mined by the Rostec Amber Plant took place on the first day of AmberForum 2024. The only open auction in the world offered buyers the so-called nuggets - ambers weighing more than 1000 g - and amber of large fractions from 300 g to 1000 g. During the auction, 10 lots were sold for almost 5 million rubles.
“In total, 19 nuggets and 6 two-in-one mix lots of stones weighing 300-500 g and 500-1000 g were put up for auction. The nugget named “Kirill” (1082 g) saw the fiercest competition. The stone was mined in 2023 and it is a monolithic flat piece measuring 225 x 146 x 65 mm. This interesting specimen of medium yellow color with contrasting inclusions of white amber and figured stains was sold to a buyer from the UAE, beating the starting price of 600,000 rubles by 52%, for a total of 910,000 rubles,” commented Maxim Lomakin, head of the amber raw materials sales service.
Every year, the Kaliningrad Amber Plant produces no more than two dozen large samples of amber per season - rare nuggets created by nature many millions of years ago.
According to the press service of the Amber Plant, a total of 70 lots will be put up for auction with a total starting price of about 17 million rubles.
The second stage of the auction will begin on June 29 at 11 a.m., with 40 lots on display. Among them are stones with inclusions and a souvenir amber in the form of a drop. Ambers with visible inclusions will be presented in 25 lots with a starting price of 2,000-25,500 rubles. Drop-shaped stones are planned to be sold at the auction in 15 lots – both individually and in sets of several pieces.
JSC "Kaliningrad Amber Plant" is the only enterprise in the world that conducts industrial mining of raw amber and manufactures jewelry and souvenirs from it. It develops the Primorskoye deposit in the Kaliningrad region which contains about 90% of the world's amber reserves. In 2013, after the decree of the Russian president, the plant was transferred under the management of the Rostec state corporation. Raw amber is sold on the electronic trading platform of JSC Vostochnaya Exchange and at auctions for jewelers.
Galina Semyonova for Rough&Polished, from Svetlogorsk