Valued both for its appearance and for its property of generating static electricity when rubbed, being known to the Greeks as elektron. Although occurring in small quantities in association with lignite deposits in several parts of Europe (e.g., Romania, Sicily), its principal source was the Baltic area, where it occurs in abundance as beach pebbles eroded from Oligocene deposits containing remains of the pine tree Pinus succinifera. The chief concentrations are in western Jutland (Denmark) and around the mouth of the Vistula (Poland) and along the eastern Baltic coasts, although it can be carried by wave action as far as the coasts of eastern England.
