Along the German Baltic coast, locals and tourists scour the beaches for amber.

Axel Kramer knows exactly where to find amber.

He walks down the boardwalk of the village of Dahme on the German Baltic coast, checks the wind and the surf, looks at the different kinds of mussels and algae that washed up, and points to a small bulge on the beach.

A dozen people who followed his every move eagerly jump down to the waterline, then pull up seagrass and kelp. One of them triumphantly holds up a little piece of shiny, honey-colored amber.

"Unbelievable. I'm 57 now and grew up on the Baltic Sea, and I've never found it before," Frank Philipp said. "I'm really excited about it. Now I'm digging around more and I'm hooked."

Axel Kramer a tourist guide and amber expert poses for a photo during a guided amber hunt for tourists on the beach of the Baltic resort of Dahme, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Ancient pursuit

Kramer, a 66-year-old nature guide, has been collecting amber since he was 6 years old. At some point he realized that he has talent — or just decades of experience — for discovering the coveted pieces and started offering amber collecting tours.

People living along the Baltic Sea — from Denmark and Germany to Poland, the Baltic states, and up north to Sweden — have collected amber for thousands of years. They made beautiful jewelry out of it, used it in barter and placed it in graves.

Today, amber stores line the Baltic coastal towns, and many tourists take home necklaces, earrings and rings as souvenirs.

Vollrath Wiese shows a piece of amber with insects trapped inside, at the "Nature House" museum in the village of Cismar near the Baltic Sea resort of Dahme, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Not a stone

Amber — also dubbed the "gold of the ocean" — is not a gemstone or jewel, but fossilized resin.

While some kinds of amber are up to 400 million years old, Baltic amber is only about 45 million years old. It originates from the forests in Finland and Sweden and was brought to the Baltic coast by glaciers during the Ice Age.

One can sometimes find so-called inclusions of insects or plants inside amber — they got stuck to the resin when it dropped off the trees.

"There used to be 120 commercial grades of amber, all very different, from practically black to practically white," said Vollrath Wiese, a biologist and expert on amber. "Bony white forms with lots and lots of bubbles inside and beautiful, almost clear amber, honey-colored."

"Whether amber is transparent or not actually depends on the number of microscopic (air) bubbles it contains," Wiese said, showing pieces from the amber collection at the House of Nature museum in Cismar, which he runs.

Tourist couple Guenter Hildebrandt, left, and Giesela Hildebrandt search for amber during a guided amber hunt for tourists at the beach of the Baltic Sea resort of Dahme, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

'Happy' hunting

The value of amber — called Bernstein in German — depends on its quality and runs from a few dollars per gram for regular pieces to up to more than $1,170 for especially beautiful, big pieces with rare inclusions such as scorpions, small lizards or spiders.

For Kramer, the value can't really be measured in money. "Collecting amber makes you happy," he said with a smile. "Many people tell me that collecting amber is better than yoga. It's pure therapy."

He said everyone, from children to older people, enjoys his amber collection tours and people often come back again and again.

"I've had CEOs who crawled around on all fours on the beach and were delighted when they found a small piece of amber," he said.

Participants hold a glass of salt water and a black light lamp in their hands to examine amber during a guided amber hunt for tourists on the beach of the Baltic Sea resort of Dahme, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Is it really amber?

When a newbie finds a piece, they ask Kramer to check it — to find out if it's real amber or just an ordinary stone or piece of plastic.

Kramer pulls out a small glass jar with highly concentrated saltwater inside and drops the piece in. If it sinks, it's a stone; if it swims, it's amber.

A wool cloth also does the job: dry amber becomes electrostatically charged when rubbed and attracts paper scraps.

In recent years, collectors came up with another unique way of identifying amber. They go out at night, lighting up the beach with black light flashlights. When amber is exposed, it glows a bright yellow color. This way, collectors also can find tiny pieces hidden between stones and wood that they might not notice in daylight.

Participants search with a black light lamps in their hands for amber during a guided amber hunt for tourists on the beach of the Baltic Sea resort of Dahme, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Tours along the sea

While many beach lovers collect amber on their own, organized collection tours, like the ones offered by Kramer, sprang up in recent years in almost every resort town on the Baltic Sea in Germany. The walking tours cost about $11.70 to $23.50 and often include lectures about folk customs surrounding amber.

In the Middle Ages, people attributed magical powers to amber and believed it protected them against witches and demons. Nowadays, many parents in Germany put amber necklaces on their babies because they are supposed to help with teething. Many jewelry stores on the Baltic Sea offer amber collars for dogs, which supposedly keep away ticks.

Collecting amber seems to be fulfilling, says Marion Ruprecht. The 54-year-old from the western city of Bochum, who works in the administration of a hospital, has vacationed in Dahme for more than 40 years.

"I find it absolutely thrilling, exciting, and also a lot of fun," she said, as she proudly held up two pieces she found during a night tour with Kramer. "I just think there's nothing better to do in the evening — it is relaxing and slows me down."

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