The Baltic Amber

Fifty million years ago, before the Baltic Sea was formed, there were conifer woods in the North of Europe. Typically for conifers, these trees produced loads of resin, which moved along the stocks of trees, slowly hardening and forming various forms of pieces, and, finally, fell into the soil. Later on, rivers washed away the resin pieces and transported them to the sea in the South. Because of slow oxidation and polymerisation processes and influence of microorganisms, within millions of years the pieces were turned into amber.

Looking at the naturally formed amber pieces one can imagine how the resin moved or dripped. Some of them found have a strict round shape, but mostly amber appears in irregular or even icicle form.

Amber pieces can be clear, because the resin was formed in the tree and didn’t appear on the surface of it.  Amber in the form of icile, which is very common, almost always contains inclusions. Inclusions are encapsulated pieces of plants or small animals in the resin, for instance, mostly insects and arachnids. Fresh resin was quite liquid, but when the volatile compounds evaporated, resin hardend rapidly. During this process, insects, for example, small flies or ants, were trapped by resin alive (but soon died because of terpenes) and were encapsulated. In this way, animals were concerved in amber pieces. There can be seen the tiniest details of them preserved in a very high quality. About three thousand different types of insect have been found in amber pieces so far.

The Dominican blue amber. A borrowed photo.

Most peope are sure that amber has only yellowish to brown colour. In fact, this fossilic resin can have different colours. It depends on the processes happened or particles, impurities present and the amount and size of terpene bubbles. Baltic amber is usually white, yellow, pale yellow, brownish, brown, red (because of intensive oxidation, for example, when the woods had burned), there are also green pieces (because of chlorofiles in plants), even black or blue. There are seven basic colours groups of amber and 250 possible shades. The Dominican Republic is famous for the blue amber. But its colour is of different origin compared to the Baltic amber. Whereas the Dominican amber has a fluorescentic blue color because of organic origin, e.g. polycyclic hydrocarbons, the blue Baltic amber contains iron ions of pyrites (FeS₂).

Amber can be transparent or completely opaque. Naturally found pieces have a thin peel, which has to be polished. Afterwards, amber has its shape as it is known for the consumers. Jewlery artist usually combine it with silver creating incredibly beautiful rings, necklaces or earrings.  People believe that the sun energy has been captured by amber. Therefore, they believe, this stone could even heal and is used against pain. Even small children, when they get there first teeth, have an amber necklace. It is a nice decoration and, probably, it helps them as a painkiller.

I like amber because of its colours. Incredibly imaginative amber jewlery artist create masterpiece, where they combine coolness of silver and different colourful pieces of amber. For me it’s like an encapsulated piece of sun. It warms me and, aside from that, it is pleasant to look at.