Our amber collection grows | Tsarskoe Selo State Museum and Heritage Site

01.03.2021

Jewelry Boxes and Clock by State Amber Factory in KönigsbergJewelry Boxes and Clock by State Amber Factory in Königsberg Amber Clock, 1930s

Amber Clock, 1930sAmber Clock, 1930s Amber Jewelry Box, 1930s

Amber Jewelry Box, 1930sAmber Jewelry Box, 1930s

Three 1930s creations by the famous State Amber Factory in Königsberg are recently added to the amber collection of Tsarskoe Selo thanks to generous donations from members of our Museum's Friends Society.

Previously held by Mr Alexander Ponomaryov, a Kaliningrad-based collector, the elegant clock and two jewelry boxes of wood with amber inlays are typical of the factory's production in the 1930s: laconic in style, simple in form, and moderate in colours.

The largest amber factory in the world at the time, the Staatliche Bernstein-Manufaktur Königsberg (SBM) was founded in 1926 and existed until 1945. It had subsidiaries in Berlin and Danzig and offices in Paris, London, Vienna, Brussels and New York.

According to Ms Elena Kalugina, our Everyday Objects Curator, these objects illustrate an important period in the history of amber-working in East Prussia and enrich our amber collection, one of the largest in Europe and the most significant in Russia.