Amber Colors: from White to Black

Cognac

It is probably the most popular, recognizable and one of the most common color, cognac (or whisky) amber comes mainly in treated form (initially transparent yellow), but can be also natural. Slow heating deepens the color, makes it more shimmering and bright than natural. Cognac amber is often autoclaved (treated with high pressure saturated steam at about 120°C/248°F) which results in inner cracking. The steam penetrates the amber’s structure and alter its color. That’s how decorative bubbles (or so-called “scales”) and shiny discs are created. Heating is a very cold technique that has been in use for hundreds of years to enhance amber’s natural color while autoclaving has been developed in the second half of the 20^th century. There are several shades of cognac amber, varying from light honey to dark cognac, almost cherry shade.

Cognac amber

Sparkling honey (treated)

Cognac amber

Honey color

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Yellow

Naturally transparent yellow amber (about 10% of all mined amber) is often found with natural impurities and inclusions in it and pure fully translucent chunks are rare and highly valued. Small transparent yellow chunks (0.5 – 1 inch long) can be found along the shoes of the Baltic Sea in Kaliningrad (Russia), Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark. Often yellow amber is specially treated and purified with high pressure. Inclusions are normally found and also very visible in this kind of amber.

Translucent yellow amber

Translucent yellow amber (treated)

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Black

Black amber (about 15%) is basically any color of amber high in content of natural inclusions such as debris, plants, soil. It is attractive because it has natural rough look. It is sought after by people who want to get Baltic amber for its healing properties. Black amber naturally mixed with butterscotch is particularly valuable as it is not that rustic and rough, but still very organic natural appearance.

Black amber

Black amber

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White, or Royal White

White amber is especially rare (about 1-2%). It is also called “bony” or “royal white” for its unique texture. White amber is praised for the decorative swirls in butterscotch, grey, green, honey or blue hues which create one-of-a kind decorative effects. White amber is never treated as it is praised for its natural beauty.

Royal white amber

Royal White amber

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Butterscotch

Butterscotch, or matt color is fairly common – about 60-70% of all amber. It is distinguished by its cloudy look. It is non-transparent or semi-transparent. Butterscotch amber is often heated at high humidity to reach so-called “antique” color: yolk, or caramel. Butterscotch color ages beautifully due to natural oxidization and turns darker and darker reaching the color of yolk.

Butterscotch amber. Cloudy variety.

Butterscotch amber

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Antique, or Yolk

Antique color is obtained by slow heating of butterscotch amber for several days or even weeks. Antique color can also be natural, but depending on climate the process may take between several years or decades. It is almost impossible to say whether this or that antique amber was treated or aged naturally. Antique color vary from light caramel to brick color. It is sometimes called “red”.

Antique amber

Antique and natural butterscotch colors

Antique, or red amber

Antique color (yolk variety)

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Green

Naturally green amber is very rare (about 1-2%). It looks more like olive oil color and isn’t bright. Green amber is fully translucent and often has natural inclusions and fossil insects. Heating and autoclaving yellow amber allows to make more intense green color with sparkles and discs. The cabochons carved out of this amber are covered on the back with special dark green veneer. This treatment allows to create an interesting variation of treated amber.

Natural green amber

Treated green amber

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Cherry

Cherry color in its natural form is quite rare (2-3%). This color is archieved by heating translucent and non-translucent varieties of amber. Cherry amber beads can be polished or non-polished. The last variety allows to give amber very natural look.

Our Baltic Amber Jewelry Collection 2014

Cherry Amber: Video

Before we post an article on Cherry Amber, its varieties, shades, treatment, etc, here is a short video of some of the pieces from our collection:

Baltic Amber Jewelry Giveaway

We've got a great review from Lilly who is launching a wonderful giveaway: one baby necklace and one matching adult necklace. Don't let it go!



http://livelaughlovewithlilly.blogspot.com/2013/10/amber-regina-baltic-amber-baby-adult.html

How To Buy Baltic Amber Jewelry Online

The Baltic Amber jewelry is getting more and more diverse and sophisticated.  Every year one can find more variety in designs from very simple pieces to the most sophisticated combined with unusual materials like wood or antique silver and other stones or when huge nuggets are mounted in naturally looking settings. Thus, a number of stores which sell amber jewelry is multiplying every year. From the most astonishing Amberif, the largest jewelry fair devoted exclusively to the Baltic Amber jewelry which takes place in Poland every year, to small online stores that resell mass made jewelry through eBay. How to choose a quality piece out of hundreds of Internet stores which often offer the best prices?

You can find gorgeous amber jewelry through online stores. But make your shopping experience safe. There are several rules which a responsible and reliable vendor would follow:

1.  Transparent Return Policy clearly indicated at the web site. Always make sure that you can return your piece of jewelry if you are not satisfied with your purchase. If the vendor offers only exchange or store credit, or even worse: no returns - be aware! The responsible vendor is interested not only in making profits, but in quality customer service (good example, Tiffany & Co return policy - 30 days). You will have time to test your piece of Baltic amber jewelry, wear it for a few days, see if it is as beautiful in reality as it is pictured online and decide whether you are happy with it.

2. Both Dimensions and Weight accurately added to the description. Sometimes vendors just indicate the length, and it may be enough for some customers. But if you want to know the width of the beads? Or even thickness which is often unclear from the photo. All these parameters must be dully described. The more accurate the dimensions, the more reliable (and hard working) the vendor. Weight is a crucial thing. Amber is sold by weight, so it is fair to let your customers know what it is worth, isn't it? Knowing the weight also helps better visualize the piece of jewelry (of course, only if you are familiar with amber). A tricky photographer is able to take such a shot that the tiniest piece of jewelry would look like a significant one.

3. Several images demonstrating all the details of the Baltic Amber jewelry. Are you satisfied with buying something having only its frontal view? Maybe yes, if it is a book or a skin lotion. But how about something which is intended for wearing? Or to be added to your collection of curiosities like amber with fossils? The more sophisticated the piece, the more pictures should be taken. Three at least, taken from different points of view. Ideally one image showing how it looks like on skin: a bracelet put on a wrist or a ring on a finger. All this will help you decide whether this piece would look great on you.

4. Natural or not? Nowadays the market is full of so-called "reconstructed, or "modified" amber, when an amber bead is made out of several small pieces of amber glued together. Natural Baltic Amber means that the piece of jewelry or a bead is carved out of one piece of amber. Natural Baltic Amber is always mined in Kaliningrad's area (Russia) and is never collected from the Baltic Sea shores as it is sometimes romantically described by some vendors. This detail is very important as the prices for natural and for pressed (reconstructed, modified) amber vary 2-5 times. For example, this vendor on eBay puts "modified" in the description without giving the details of whether it is made out of amber powder (lower quality) or out of small pieces of amber (higher quality).

5. Baltic Amber Balls, or Round Beads are in very high demand now. To give you a better idea about what is going on with prices, for instance, the price for natural Baltic Amber ball beads 10-15 mm in diameter are $13-15 per gram for whole sellers and only if you know the market very well and know where to get them at such a price. Smaller beads cost a bit less and larger ones more. In case you come across ideally round balls described as "natural not pressed not reconstructed amber" at much lower price, most likely the vendor lies to you. Or this amber was stollen or used. Price must be always your guide for the quality and genuineness. Large workshops that make such beads normally don't care to sell retail through the Internet with a very little mark-up.

Baltic Amber ball beads reconstructed from several pieces of amber.
In this case it is very hard to tell the difference.

6.  Do you need a certificate of authenticity? The truth about the certificates is that it is a common misleading factor that a purchase of genuine Baltic Amber must be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. Does a certificate guarantee that the amber is real? No. In theory, every company can provide a certificate of authenticity saying common phrases like "we guarantee that your piece of jewelry is made out of 100% natural Baltic Amber, etc". Every company can provide their own form of certificate and add it to the invoice to ensure their customers that they made the right decision. The point is that there is no superior authority that can verify their products and the certificates alike. Especially in the USA. In Europe, particularly in Poland and Lithuania, where there is a high concentration of amber workshops, the system is different. In a nutshell, the certificate of authenticity matters only if you are a wholesale vendor purchasing large quantities of amber goods from Lithuania and Poland.

7.  Raw or Treated Baltic Amber? If you need amber necklace or bracelet for healing purposes, make sure that you buy raw amber as it has the highest concentration of the succinic acid. It can be polished or not.  Polishing does not alter the healing properties of amber. All sparkling amber, with bubbles and discs as well as super translucent varieties and faceted beads are treated with heat, pressure, humidity, etc. The treatment makes the beads more appealing and pretty, but it decreases the amount of the succidic acid. Treated amber is still natural and, of course, real. It is a common confusion that real amber must be only raw. The reply is no. Baltic Amber has been treated in different ways for hundreds of years. As many other natural stones, amber often reveals its full beauty only after treatment.

Natural Baltic Amber set treated with pressure and heat

8. From Europe or from the USA? There are many companies selling retail from Poland, Lithuania and also quite a few from the USA and also in Canada and Australia. Their prices vary, but generally speaking nowadays there is not much price difference between prices for Baltic Amber in the USA and in Eastern Europe (20% maximum). If you shop on eBay, you probably come across numerous "deals" of  bulky expensive looking "amber" jewelry set in silver plated settings. This "jewelry" is manufactured in China and they certainly use pressed amber of the lowest quality. Look at this item: a "real amber" bracelet in "sterling silver" for $5.99 shipped for free from China. 

Baltic Amber Drops, or Nodules

Among the variety of amber one can come across so-called amber drops (5%), or amber nodules. They are the overdose of resins that broke away from the streams, which used to flow through icicles and trunk. 

For the love of amber necklaces

I came across this great picture which is a perfect illustration of how light-weight amber jewelry is!

from http://thisbeadifulworld.tumblr.com/page/2

Some exciting findings: Villa Giulia (Rome)

Nymphaeum Loggia by Ammanati 

Villa Giulia in Rome is one of these nice off the beaten track places where you have a chance to see  museum instead of touristic crowds with guides and photo cameras. Located close to a high end residential area, it is a gorgeous place: a combination of a remarkable architecture with the Renaissance frescoes and mosaics and a stunning archeological collection of the Etruscan Art. An excellent place to enjoy the history and to get a lunch on a grass after.

The Tunnel Vault of the Semicircular Portico (Loggia) 
at the rear of the Casino by the architect Vignola

The Castellani's collection of the Etruscan jewelry was, unfortunately, closed. Nonetheless, it was exciting to find a few wonderful pieces of amber jewelry from the Etruscan tombs.

These two pieces are crafted out of gold and amber (most likely Sicilian amber which has a distinctive red hue). At that time amber and gold had the same value. These bulky jewelry was used as pins and were fixed with the bronze pins. The donuts at the same photo are also carved out of amber and (maybe) were worn on the pins.

This restored necklace is a similar example of the popular amber-gold combination in Etruscan jewelry.

Baltic Amber Cuff Links

It took me a while to decide how to increase my amber collection, more in a male direction. It also took me a while to find baltic amber cuff links. I've never come across really beautiful cuff links. They are usually either boring chunks of amber in tribal style set in silver or quite simple pieces inlaid in a mosaic like thing. My friend from Poland has spent all his life (twenty five or so years) perfecting the mosaic technique in amber jewelry. His creations are not only perfectly inlaid with an ideal mirror like surface when one cannot feel the border between amber and silver. He is also the only one who is able to create cuff links that work like little sculptures. Each pair has an individual profile: a pyramid, an arch, a diamond, a triangle, etc. I could not resist and ordered one pair for my husband to ... match my jewelry!

New collection: Baltic Amber Bracelets from Poland

We've got several truly precious pieces handcrafted by artisans from Poland.

Baltic Amber Bracelet with Butterscotch Cabochon

Each bracelet has a central  amber cabochon set in sterling silver frame. All bracelets are 7 inch (18 cm) in diameter and have a secured chain lock. It is easy to put on, and you will certainly never loose it.

Amber from Sicily

This gorgeous necklace is several thousands years old. There used to be deposits of amber close to Mount Etna, in Sicily. That amber was mined out by the 18th century. This is an example of exquisite craftsmanship from Etruria. Sicilian amber has a distinguished red hue and, unlike Baltic amber, is opaque. Nowadays Sicilian amber's almost impossible to purchase; it can be mainly found in museum collections.

Necklace with a pendant Scarab, Italic or Etruscan, 550-400 B.C.
Amber, gold and carnelian scarab. Length: 39.5 cm (15 inch)
Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum.

What is Amber

I am very pleased that Cattie Coyle invited me to write an article in her blog on Baltic Amber.

Check it out! 

Baltic Amber pendant with a mosquito

15% off in February!

Take your chance of great prices on Baltic amber jewelry!
15% off in February for orders over $100. Coupon february777
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November's promotion from Amber Regina

This November's promotion: 10% off any order. No minimum order value!
Coupon - november50 at check-out.
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Travel Protection Charms

For those who are searching for a cute protection charm while traveling, this is a nice article from Cattie

http://charmsguide.net/travel-protection-charms/

Baltic Amber Baby Teething Necklace

Thanks to Ashley we've got another great review of our Baltic amber baby teething necklaces

http://thethriftywife.com/amber-teething-necklaces-work/

Baltic amber baby teething necklace in multicolor beads

http://www.amberregina.com/category_13/Baltic-Amber-Baby-Teething-Necklaces.htm

Amber Regina coupon, October 2012

Get 15% off on Baltic amber jewelry orders over $100 till the end of October!
Voucher: amberoctober
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Baltic Amber butterscotch bracelet

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How Is Amber Produced?

Several factors affect the production of amber from resin, a process known as amberization. Once the resin is exuded it hardens. Resin contains liquids such as oils, acids and alcohols, including the aromatic compounds that produce the distinctive resinous smell – two examples of highly aromatic resins are frankincense and myrrh. Scientists call these liquids volatiles and they dissipate and evaporate from the resin. The resin then undergoes a process known as polymerization, whereby the organic molecules join to form much larger ones called polymers. Hardened resin is known as copal. Copal becomes incorporated into soil and sediments where it remains long after the tree dies. It continues to polymerize and lose volatiles until the resultant amber is completely polymerized, has no volatiles and is inert.

Frankincense tree

Many scientists thought that time was important in the fossilization of resin to produce amber, and the amberization process was estimated as taking between 2 and 10 million years. However, it now appears that many more factors are involved. Most amber in deposits around the world was not formed where it is found – the copal or amber has been eroded from the soil, transported by rivers and deposited elsewhere. For instance, amber from Borneo is 12 million years old and comes from sand and clay sediments that were deposited in a deep ocean. The fossilized resin from Borneo that comes from beds of sandstone is completely inert and undoubtedly amber. However, resin that comes from beds of clay still contains volatile components, which means that it is still copal. So, the type of sediment in which the resin is deposited is much more important than time for amber formation. But what is not so clear is the effect of water and sediment chemistry on the resin.

Resin oozing from under the bark of a cedar tree, where a branch has been sawn off

From Amber: The Natural Time Capsule

By Andrew Ross

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Amber : Talismanic, Amuletic and Folk Medicine

Since time immemorial, amber has been worn as an amulet in the Baltic as well as the Mediterranean cultures. The people of these cultures believed amber was especially beneficial for protecting infants from the croup when worn as a necklace in the form of an amulet. As a charm, amber was believed to ward of fits, dysentery and nervous afflictions. As early as Pliny’s time, farmers wives in areas where the “water had properties that would harm the throat”, or was deficient in iodine, wore raw amber beads around their necks as a remedy against swellings (goiter).

raw baltic amber butterscotch beads

The lore attributing guardian values to amber has lasted into the 20^th century. During the late 1960s, for example, an authority announced the virtues of wearing amber beads around the throat to protect it from diseases. It was believed that the strong electrical properties of amber resulted in an electrical band forming around the throat and bringing into existence a protective power. Even today, in many of the peasant areas of the Baltic, amber earrings and necklaces are worn when one has a headache or a throat ailment.

Amber is thought to possess other unusual curative powers. In ancient times, amber was powdered and mixed with honey and oil-of-roses for curing ear troubles. When mixed with honey from Attica, it was a cure for dimming eyesight. The powder was taken internally as a remedy of diseases of the stomach, whereas the amber oil was prescribed for internal administrations of asthma and whooping cough. Simply holding a ball of amber in the hands not only kept one cool during the hottest days of summer, but would reduce the temperature of a person from fever.

yellow lemon amber nugget

Many prescriptions were written which included amber along with other gemstones. An old meteria medica lists 200 medicinal stones. A dose suggested for heart disease contained white amber, red coral, crab’s eyes, powdered hartshorn, pearls and black crab’s claws. Such a mixture was the prized Oriental Bezoar, prescribed for different ailments.

Amber was also used externally as a fumigation to cure other ailments, including tonsillitis, catarrh, or running nose and eyes. It was thought that the smell of burned amber helped women in labor. In the Orient, amber fumigation was accomplished by throwing powdered amber on a hot brick. The fumes would strengthen the individual and give him courage from the soul of the tiger, a beast second in importance only to the dragon in Chinese mythology. “Syrup of amber”, a mixture of liquid acid-of-amber and opium, was also used in China as a sedative, anodyne and antispasmodic drug. Powdered amber and oil-of-amber were prescribed as powerful diuretics.

powdered Baltic amber

A piece of amber placed on the nose was thought to stop excessive bleeding. It is perhaps this belief in the special blood-stilling or coagulating properties of amber that explains the use of an amber handle on the ritual Jewish circumcision knife of the 18^th century. During the early 1900’s, as medical practices advanced, vessels made of compressed amber were used during blood transfusion. The amber, being a poor conductor of heat, kept a more constant blood temperature for a longer period of time that did glass or stone vessels, and thus the blood was kept from coagulating.

The persistent belief that amber not only prevented infections, but acted as a charm against them, was the reason amber retained its popularity into the late 1800s and early 1900s, especially in the smoking articles industry. Its employment as a mouthpiece for cigars, cigarettes and pipes was originally talismanic. Amber was used in the Middle East for the mouthpieces of hookahs with their many hoses because of the gemstone’s supposed germicidal effect. 

Butz-Choquin Brumaire pipe in amber