[10] The Königsberg Amber Factory had its origins in the second half of the 19th century, when the Stantien & Becker company leased the Palmniken quarry from the government.

Stantien & Becker introduced industrial methods to amber mining, by employing steam-powered excavators.

The East Prussian government terminated the company's lease in 1899, granting amber extraction rights to the state-owned Koeniglichen Bernsteinwerke.

[11] After the Nazis gained power in 1933 the government centralized the management of amber extraction and production to Berlin.

[11] After the end of World War II the company came under Soviet ownership, and was re-established in 1947; over the following decades the enterprise developed successfully, using forced labour,[12] increasing the mining, assortment and volumes of production output - from mass amber product lines to dielectric isolators, lacquers, enamel paints and components for chemical industry.