In only one place on the globe, there is an extinguished volcano complex where BLUE pectolite is found, on one square kilometer of land, the only place on the whole planet. There this rare stone has been named “Larimar”. Blue pectolite is much more rare than diamonds, which compared with it, exist in “rich” abundance (with permission of the de Boer clan) and are as rare as the daisies.

Whether any of the the native Taino indians had been using it as a gemstone is not known.

But about one hundered years ago, the priest Miguel Domingo Fuerte Loren of Barahona applied for the permission of exploration and exploitation as can be found in the documents Dominican Treasury Department.

Whether this was granted or not, we don’t know. But -as strange as it seems- the mine was forgotten.

The year is 1493 A.D. Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage to the West Indies arrives at La Hispaniola. To his surprise, a Taino indian chief offers him a gift of amber. Later, one single mass of three hundred pounds is found.
In 1891 J.G. Haddow wrote “At Santiago, in San Domingo, in the valley of the brook Acagua, amber pieces, some as large as the egg of a goose, reward the explorer.
Is it real, old amber? According to Poinar, 2001, Dominican amber is from Oligocene to Miocene, up to 30 Mio years old.A study in the early 1990s returned a date up to 40 million years old. Browne, Malcolm W. (1992-09-25).

Since the amber in these mountains is tightly embedded in a lignite layer of sandstone, holes are dug into the sides of the cliffs. The miners accomplish their work only with the help of primitive, simple tools and risk their lives daily.

Please visit virtually a Dominican amber mine.

But, Alas!, Dominican amber has not been known as much as Baltic amber. Is there a difference between one and the other?