Amber Facts

• Amber is a fossilized tree resin that has taken millions of years to form
• Amber comes in many shades and colors, although the most common are cognac, honey, green, lemon yellow, ivory and cream/yellow.
• Amber is lightweight and because it is an organic substance, each piece is unique.
• Occasionally, amber will contain remnants of plant matter or insects that were first trapped and preserved millions of years ago ( amber inclusions ).
• Amber was an important commodity for ancient cultures, a substance they valued greatly. It was traded around the globe as far back as almost 10,000 years ago.
• Did you know? The oldest and easiest way to obtain Amber is by collecting it on the beach. There are huge deposits located below the bottom of the Baltic Sea and amber stones are thrown out by waves during storms. Read more about amber fisihng below.

Care of your Amber Jewelry

To enjoy your amber jewelry for long time, some simple precautions must be observed. Because of the softness of amber, its brittleness, and its susceptibility to attack by various chemicals and oxidation, amber jewelry pieces do require some special care in handling and storing.
Amber beads should not be stored where they will rub against metal or other pieces of jewelry. Soft flannel or velvet pouches made with drawstring tops are best for storing and protecting each individual amber bead.
To remove dust and perspirationfrom amber beads, simply wipe them with a soft flannel cloth dampened with clean lukewarm water. They should be dried carefully and rubbed lightly with clear olive oil, then rubbed with a soft cloth to remove excess oil and restore the polish.
Avoid placing amber jewelry pieces in any strong solutions and do not allow amber to come in contact with perfume or hair spray. Commercial jewelry cleanung solutions should not be used on amber. It is a good idea to remove amber jewelry while cooking to avoid execssive heat. Never use hot water for cleaning amber.

How do we get this beautiful amber?

Amidst the Baltic waves

We can imagine how lumps of amber rolled over and over the bottom of the Baltic Sea and washed out from glacial sediments. Today amber is washed ashore by Baltic waves. In the history of amber travels from its parent tree to younger and younger deposits , this is the last stage.
Amber from the sediments in the sea bottom as well as from its high southern shores was washed away and for the second time in its history it was immersed in marine water.
Sea waves destroy the shore in order to take away the glitzy lumps of the amber, rinse it in their own water and polish it on the smooth surface of the constantly receding beach, where they are finally left to resist. In this way the youngest Holocene deposits we like to exploit to satisfy the demands of amber jewelry admirers have been formed for the last thousands of years.
The oldest way of fishing amber out of sea after storms was drawing by means of special nets fixed to long poles, as it was depicted in a print from 1677. This method is still used nowadays. If it should be too long to wait for a stormy weather, though, the sea bottom was raked with poles, causing light pieces of amber to flow out. In Jutland, where amber was supplied by the North Sea, they used to go fishing for amber on horses. As soon as low tide started, they rushed to the exposed areas, often very rich in amber.
Apart from collecting amber from the sea and beaches, in Poland amber is sought for and extracted from old beaches, now buried deep under ground and situated either more south towards the land or more north towards the sea than the present beach line.