Ambers near the bed of the Baltic Sea have driven an onrush of local residents putting their lives on the line to seek fortune in Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast region. /CCTV.com Photo 

Residents brought nets to fish the so-called "Baltic gold" washing up on the shore on Tuesday, day and night. /CCTV.com Photo

The Baltic region is home to the richest known deposit of amber, the remnants of pine forests. An estimated more than eighty percent of the world’s supply of the fossilized tree resin comes from the Baltic coastlines and millions of fragments wash ashore every year. /Chinanews Photo

Prices of amber have risen over tenfold since 2000, but the products vary dramatically depending on the size, color, structure of a fragment, and the presence of insects or lizards inside. Some flawless chunks of amber are worth more than their weight in gold. /CCTV.com Photo