Guide To Amber Jewelry
Amber jewelry is one of the most beautiful gifts mother nature
can offer up. It is often classified as a gem, but amber is actually
an organic substance. It's use in jewelry dates back to ancient
times. Interest in amber jewelry was reignited with the Jurassic
Park movie.
Amber is available in a wide range of colors ranging: yellow,
orange, red, white, brown, green, blue and almost black are common
colors of amber. Amber can be transparent or clouded. Transparent
amber tones range from pale to dark yellow, to yellow light brown,
where as cloudy amber comes in many colors.
Amber has always held a deep fascination both as a gem and as
a window into the past for which it holds remarkable clarity.
It's warm touch with its unusual inclusions captures our imagination
into a world of the past.
Amber begins as resin exuded from trees millions of years ago.
The trees which amber came from are now extinct leaving behind
only the gift of amber. In its day the resin would have been a
defense system against attach by fungus and insects. Once the
resin was released from the tree several stages occurred.
First the volatile oils, called turpenes, would slowly evaporate
away. This process took anywhere from 100 years to a 1000 years.
Once the turpenes had completely evaporated the resin became harder
and was then called copal.
Next a kind of polymersiation occurred which is when the cross
chain linking of the molecular structure within the copal. This
process hardened up the amber even more, and made it less brittle.
The second stage can take millions of years before the copal begins
to resemble the structure of amber.
Both of these stages have to occur in an anaerobic environment
or sustained under sea water. The longer amber is exposed to air
the darker it becomes from oxidation. It sustained over millions
of years the amber begins to fragment breaking into tiny pieces
or splinter.
What is so unique about amber is its ability to preserve the
organic tissues in it. It is very common to find pieces of plants
and insects, trapped in amber making it extremely valuable to
both the collector and the scientist. A beautiful and fascinating
gem!
Amber is found in many parts of the world. The Isle Of Wight
located in the UK has some of the oldest amber in the world with
an estimated age of 120 Million years. Because of its age the
pieces found are tiny and weigh only a few grams. Lebanese deposits
date back to 125 million years and are similar in size and weight.
The largest and youngest amber deposits are off the shores of
the Baltic Sea, and they are only 40 million years old. Baltic
amber is found in large blocks sometimes weighing several kilos.
Baltic Amber is the most sought after and valuable for making
amber jewelry.
The majority of Baltic amber comes from a 400-square-mile area
previously called the Samland Peninsula, but now known as the
Kaliningrad region. The Kaliningrad amber mine supplies 99% of
the Baltic amber. Up until the 19th century amber was retrieved
manually from the sea.
During the latter part of the 19th century operations became
much more sophisticated as they began dredging and mining for
amber. Since then millions of pounds of Baltic amber have been
mined.. A small town in the Kaliningrad region has the world's
largest amber mine.
Baltic Amber has been used for decorative items since prehistoric
times. A Baltic amber amulet has even been found in Egyptian tombs
. Amber was also very popular in ancient Rome during the reign
of Neron when: jewelry, ornaments, amulets, and even dice were
made from amber. During the Middle Ages, amber prayer beads were
exported. From the 16th century into the 18th century item made
from amber included jewelry, dishes, buttons, pipe mouth pieces,
chess sets and a host of other fine products.
Amber has a special beauty in its ability for each piece to be
truly original in nature and content. Baltic amber is known to
have the longest life expectancy. Taking proper care of your amber
will result in enjoyment for many years, sometimes thousands of
years as seen with the recovery of amber jewelry from the past.
Amber jewelry is the most unique and beautiful jewelry you will
ever own. Wearing a piece of our past can be truly enlightening!
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