Article Surfing Archive

Amber is seen by most people as a gemstone, but it is actually fossil resin aged between thirty and ninety million years old.

Amber is available in four varieties: Blue amber, Dominican amber, Baltic amber and Delatynite. The most valuable of these is the Blue amber. Amber is commonly used in bead making, jewelery and in ornaments.

Amber is also sometimes used in cigar-holders and for the mouth pieces of pipes. The Turks see this usage as valuable so as to avoid the passing of germs when sharing pipes. Amber has been used in ornaments since the Neolithic times and it was used either as an amulet or for medicinal purposes.

Amber can be copied quite easily by using a similar plastic resin. True Baltic amber contains succinic acid and it is a fossil resin. Geology-wise amber is mined in Sambia, within Russia, in the marine glauconitic sand or blue earth. Some pieces of the gem contain preserved insects and occasionally small tree frogs. Amber can also retain parts of plants, insects, spiders, wood, stalacites, and hair.

Amber is generally found within Sambia, and occasionally along the Baltic Sea and North Sea. The gems are collected along the sea shore where they have been washed up from the sea floor, sometimes divers are used to fish Amber from deeper areas. Amber has been used architecturally wise in the creation of the Amber Room in Russia. The Amber Room was a collection of amber panels backed with gold leaves and mirrors that were created for the King of Prussia in 1701 and then handed on to the Tsar Peter the Great. When the Nazis came in 1941 to destroy the building, the panels were hidden and have not been found since. This room has since been recreated in 2003 and is dazzling to see.

Amber is a beautiful addition to your jewelry collection (or your house, if you're as rich as Tzar Peter).