ABOUT AMBER

Amber is the name commonly used for fossil resin that is appreciated for its inherent beauty and is widely used for the manufacture of jewelry and other ornamental objects. Although it is not mineralized, it is sometimes considered and used as a gemstone. Most of the world's amber is in the range of 30–90 million years old. Since amber is produced from plant resin, this aromatic resin can drip from and ooze down trees, as well as fill internal fissures, trapping debris such as seeds, leaves, feathers and insects. The resin is buried and fossilized through a natural polymerization of the original organic compounds. Because of this, amber preserves traces of life dating back to the times when the liquid resin was setting. They are plant and animal inclusions, which are valued and searched by natural history museums, scientific institutes and collectors all over the world.
Most of the amber comes from the Baltic regions, and it comes in a wealth of varieties produced by the great differences in the degree of its translucency and color ranging from yellow to white, bluish, greenish, beige and brown. These are some of the factors that make amber so desirable in folk art and jewelry trades.  Baltic amber varieties are normally divided into primary and secondary.  The fundamental criterion to distinguish primary varieties is the internal structure of amber, which holds the key to establish the color and translucency, as well as the degree to which it is contaminated by organic inclusions.  The translucency and color of amber depend on the amount of air bubbles contained in each particular piece. Due to its natural beauty, it was commonly used as a raw material for manufacturing talismans and ornaments since the Stone Age.