Amber Jewelry

What is Amber?

Amber is often classified as a gemstone in the same class as turquoise and jade,However, it is actually is fossil of tree resin. Amber is available in a number of different colors: yellow, brown, green among others. The most highly priced amber is transparent. The main producer of Amber is Russia; in fact about 90% of amber comes from the Kaliningrad region in Russia. As you walk along the beach in countries like Lithuania, Estonia, which are by the Baltic Sea, Amber washes up on the shores.

Amber and Magic

In days gone by, amber was acclaimed to possess the power of healing. Worn as a necklace or charm, or carried around in small bags, amber was believed to be a remedy against such ailments as gout, rheumatism, sore throats, toothache and stomach-ache. It was also believed that amber accelerated birth and was a good remedy against snake bites. To guard against the swapping of a new born baby, the infant was often given an amber necklace to wear. Amber was supposed to contain magical powers, which is why heart shaped amber charms were carried to offer protection against evil forces and help against witchcraft.Amber is often used to make jewelry, fashion and home accessories. It would therefore be good to know whether you have a genuine piece or a fake. This is especially important if you are buying a large piece by weight.

Tips to determine whether you have the real thing or a fake.

If you put a few drops of alcohol on a stone and it evaporates easily and the surface does not become sticky, the amber is genuine. If the surface becomes sticky, you have a fake.

Once you have purchased genuine amber jewelry, which could be expensive, you want to care of or your investment. Here are a few tips

• Don’t leave your amber jewelry in direct sunlight.


• Use your perfume before you wear your amber jewelry.


• Avoid contact with any household cleaners.


• Clean with a solution of mild soap and warm water.

You can polish you amber jewelry and give it a nice shine with olive oil

Learning More of Amber Stone

In the Amber Museum, Dominican Republic clarifies how to identify the
dissimilarity between an authentic and a pickled amber stone. If you are not aware amber stone is frequently sold heated, melted and pressed or it is even mixed with synthetic materials available over the market.

In general a factual Baltic amber is milky and pale beneath the crust. The temperate amber color occurs first afterwards it has been uncovered to oxygen for a hundred years. To be able to make the amber a lot more attractive to its consumers, presently amber jewelry manufacturers are operating to achieve the warm brown-reddish amber color which frequently includes discs known to be as the sunspangles.

What the technique of amber making gave emphasis to is that an amber stone should be place into pressure and heat in an autoclave with nitrogen. Afterwards, it should be place in an oven to be able to acquire the sunspangles with the cognac color. This procedure makes amber stone jewelries more appealing to the of
the people.

Colors white, yellow, brown, black, red, green and blue are the colors which a Baltic amber stone has the possibility transpiring to. Honey-colored and milky are the most common. Having a small percentage is bone white which is cause by the microscopic gas bubbles. The current and dripping of resin result to the clear and lucid amber, while a mix of resin, soil and plant fragments result to black and dirty brown of amber in color. The most rare amber has a green and blue tone because of inclusion or gas. When an artisan keeps a part of the natural shape of an amber, when shingling the raw amber, the inclusion will be giving a usual collection of multicolored tones.

Trying to melt an amber with pebbles and by crushing them into a huge lumps is impossible. This will make an amber harder and less brilliant whenever it is being cut. Varieties of color can be mix into this method. Though the amber was pressed it will still be consider a natural amber stone by some manufacturers.

By; Marian Alba.
Source :Articlebase.com

Fashion jewelry is not merely the custom to wear certain gems or metals. It refers to much more than that: to fulfilling one's fantasies and enriching lives by satisfying psychological needs, to peppering existence with a variety of colors, shapes and textures, to tickling senses and giving wings to dreams. Considering this, let's take the example of amber jewelry , one of the oldest and most astonishing creations of beauty lovers. Fashion has a strong word to say in sustaining amber jewelry and every year new beautiful creations are available on the market. Combined with precious metals, amber can become an exquisite jewel.

The beauty of amber jewelry is a result of good polishing and precise cut of a variety of amber stones. The color of the stones used to make amber jewelry is often gold, but amber can also come into many various unusual colors like: black, green, ivory, yellow, red, orange and even white. Natural amber may contain insects, feathers or flowers. Its colors are a feast to the eye and it is unique due to the fact that it imprisons something, unlike other precious stones. There are amber stones 30-90 million years old and they really represent frozen moments in time. Those treasures are a way to look back into well preserved moments of a life that existed in the past. Amber jewelry is an original choice also because it has some interesting properties. It has a nice pine smell when you rub amber on a piece of cloth, it's warm and it contains succinic acid (a substance known for its therapeutic properties). The stone is not really a stone, but a resin that can become soft and malleable when heated and that can be chiseled very easily by jewel makers.

Amber can be shaped in the most wonderful ways creating unique pieces. This unusual stone is not used only for jewelry. It is in fashion and, therefore, artists use it to create amber sculptures and to decorate beautiful unique items with it. Amber jewelry is often used as magical amulets which protect from bad luck. It is also thought that amber jewelry can heal diseases from sore throats to anxiety. So, amber is an organic gem that people love not only for decorative purposes. Amber jewelry was not always in fashion. A long time ago, the amber stone was considered to have flaws and was rejected from an esthetical point of view. Although it had periods in which its beauty was denied, there were moments in time in which amber jewelry was used as a diplomatic gift for princesses and princes. In the mean time, people used it in powders for curative purposes. Because it began to be much appreciated, people started faking amber jewelry and they created quite an industry.

Fake amber jewelry is everywhere nowadays, but there are some inexpensive ways to see if your stone is man made or not. You can test your amber gem's authenticity by putting a heated needle on it. If the smoke smells like pine the gem is amber, but if it smells like plastic it's definitely fake. For a non destructive way of testing, you can also rub the amber gem with a piece of cloth and smell it. If it smells like pine, it is a natural resin. The bad taste can tell you whether it is made of plastic not. If obtained through a chemical process, the just washed amber can taste poorly. Some other clues can also tell the truth about it. Amber does not melt, but it will burn. It will float in a bowl where you put one part salt and two parts water, while plastic and copal will sink. If you do own real amber jewelry, you have to know how to protect it and save its value for many years to come. To clean your amber jewelry all you need is warm water and a clean piece of cloth. You must not use any soap or detergent on it because they might ruin the amber's structure. Even salad oil, butter or lard can destroy the resin.

Amber jewelry has to be protected from heat or excessive cold because extreme temperatures may deteriorate it. A soft cloth is needed for wrapping each piece of amber jewelry in order to avoid contact, get scratched or become dirty. There are many legends built around amber. It is said that the yellow resin is made of tears from the sun or (in Greece) from a nymph. Amber is also present in Ovid's work as an incredible god like material which is out of this world. Even if you don't believe that amber has incredible powers, there is no possibility of denial that amber jewelry is special. Wearing amber jewelry will give a more mysterious and unique look because the amber stone is itself an enigmatic gem which preserves history and charms the eye. Resource box: If you are one of those who appreciate nature's wonderful art and adore its combination with the imagination and creativity of man, then knowing more about amber jewelry is the right thing to do.

By; Val Gumi
Source ; Articles Base.com

The Age of Natural Amber Stone

Amber is millions of years old and is made up of fossilized resin of trees. It contains souvenirs from the early history of the life on the planet. Hence, it is often called as a time capsule. Even prehistoric man found this organic gem quite attractive. One can see this in the ancient beads and carvings found everywhere.

Amber is the gem that glows like honey or sun-drops. Most scientists agree that it would be unlikely to find something so ancient. Most amber is 25 to 50 million years old.

The color of amber gem varies from yellow to dark brown to almost black. Amber can also be found in green and blue-gray colors, but it is very rare. The color of amber denotes the area from where it has originated. Also one can judge the age of the amber from its colour.

Paleolithic man in Austria also used amber gemstones (45000 - 12000 B.C.). The nomadic hunters of the Mesolithic age (12000 - 4000 B.C.) used amber to hunt animals. They carved phases of the moon, hunting seasons and the animals that they hunted on amber.

The Neolithic man (4000-1900 B.C.) started using amber as decorative articles and jewels. The rich people of these societies usually owned amber jewelry and used to gift it to their friends and relatives.

Later, towards the end of the eighth century B.C. the Greeks started using amber for inlay work in gold and ivory. Romans used amber gemstone in the first century B.C to first century A.D, where they made rings and vessels out of amber.

Ancient Greeks called amber 'Elektron' - meaning 'made out of the sun'. One ancient account explains that 'amber is the juice of the setting sun that congeals in the sea, which is why it can be found on beaches.

The amber stone was mined in the mountains of Lebanon by Aftim Acra, who has a collection of amber pieces containing 700 insects, including termites, moths, caterpillars, spiders, pseudo-scorpions, and midges. Over 1,000 species of extinct insects have been found in amber.

The Baltic States and the Dominican Republic are the two main sources of amber in the market today. Amber from the Baltic is older and more valuable but amber from the Dominican Republic is more likely to have insect inclusions, which are prized by collectors.

The largest mine in the Baltic region is in Russia, west of Kaliningrad. Baltic amber is found in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Russia, and occasionally washed up on the shores of the Baltic Sea as far away as Denmark, Norway, and England. Other amber sources include Myanmar (formerly Burma), Lebanon, Sicily, Mexico, Romania, Germany, and Canada.
By: Mithun Rao.
Source: articlesbase.com