| Activity | In 1854 Whelhelm Stantien obtained a lease from the government to dredge for amber. In 1869 Mority Becker joined Stantien to form the business, Stantien and Becker. They continued increasing their dredging operations and provided divers with modern equipment for picking amber off the sea floor. They were working in the Prussian province of Samland, which is today the Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. Geologists had determined the glacial debris containing amber in Germany, Denmark, Poland and other Baltic lands derived from the blue earth or a Tertiary glauconite formation found in this area. In 1870 Stantien and Becker purchased the right to mine on land for amber. They built dams to keep the sea back, as the stratum was below sea level.
Workers of Stantien & Becker company at Juodkrante would dig up many pieces of amber shaped as amulets or knick-knacks. At first they would give them out as souvenirs, but then started collecting these items from the Mid Neolithic and the Bronze Ages. Richard Klebs, professor at Königsberg University, described 435 items (pendants, buttons, tubular beads, discs, and figurines of humans and animals) in his book Stone Age Amber Adornments in 1882. These ancient Schwarzorter Funde are considered to contain earliest known amber carvings. About 150 items have detailed images. The collection was shown in Berlin, St. Petersburg, London, Chicago. After Klebs death, Königsberg University purchased his collection. However, during the turbulent times of World War II most of the large collection in Königsberg was destroyed or stolen and only a few items were saved at Göttingen University, the previous sister university of Königsberg. But because of detailed illustrations in Klebs' book, scientists managed to make replicas.
In 1895 their operation produced a record high of 1,200,000 pounds (over 540,000 kg) of amber. The government bought them out in 1899 and once again all amber became the property of the state. The government operated this Stantien and Becker mine until 1925.
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