101 Baltic Amber (Baltic Amber Information)

Baltic Amber stirs the soul, delights the eye, warms the heart and excites the world's scientific imagination. Amber, an organic plastic, has the unique and singular ability to encompass and preserve the organic materials it encounters, like the proverbial fly trapped in honey.

* Amber is often referred to as a "Window to the Past".

* Baltic Amber has been used since ancient times, making Baltic Amber Jewelry and ornaments, as an ingredient in perfumes and has long been used in Folk Medicine for its healing properties.

* Amber is the hardened resin of ancient pine trees that has achieved a stable state through oxidation.

* Baltic Amber is approximately 40-60 million years old.

* THE OLDEST AMBER IS 320 MILLION YEARS OLD.

* The biggest found Amber piece is Approx. 47 cm length and 9.817 kg. weight. It is in the Berlin Natural Science Museum.

* THE LARGEST AMBER DEPOSITS IN THE WORLD ARE IN THE BALTIC REGION.

* Pieces of Amber are different in form, hardness, and transparency, even though they have been found in the same place.

* Amber has seven main colors, and about 250 shades.

* Various impurities and main structural Amber elements – very small turpenine gas bubbles – changed Amber Color.

* White Amber is very rare. In one square millimeter of white amber there could be about 1 million micro-bubbles 0.001-0.0008 mm. in diameter. The more micro-bubbles amber has, the whiter it is.

* Blue Amber is the rarest shade of Amber and the most valuable.

* Scientists are interested in Amber because of the remains of flora and fauna.

* Any trapped fly or ant remained preserved forever that‘s how Inclusions were formed.

* MANY CREATURES HAVE BEEN TRAPPED IN AMBER—AND SO HAS A DINOSAUR "FEATHER."

* SCIENTISTS HAVE TRIED TO EXTRACT DNA FROM INSECTS TRAPPED WITHIN IT.

* At least 214 plant species have been identified through morphological analysis of Amber.

* Only small, mostly forest-living species can be found.

* Fragments of plants that are found in Amber are usually small leaves, needles, flowers and their parts, sometimes – small twigs and fruits.

* Tree resin is the main Amber material.

* From a chemical point of view. Like fresh tree resins it consists of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Usually it contains 79% of C, 10.5% of O and 10.5% of H. According to O. Helm amber has from 3% to 8% of Amber Acid.

* Amber naturally light weight, warm to the touch and can feel like a plastic.

* Amber is a very light stone. It can feel very light even in larger sizes. Carat refers to weight not size, so a 5 carat Amber gemstone, for example, will be about 2.5 times larger than, say, a 5 carat Diamond.

* Amber hardness is measured according to the Moss scale at 2-2.5; sometimes it increases up to 3 (e.g. diamond - 10).

* Amber melting point is about 375oC.

* Amber burns in the air with a bright, black, strong smoke flame, diffusing a pleasant fragrance reminding pine-tree resins.

* The scientists and the sages also had many versions about origin of Amber. Plato (427 to 347 BC) thought the Amber and magnet were of single-origin, they both attract objects.

* Amber rubbed with woolen fabric obtains negative charge and attracts small light pieces of paper.

* Amber was one of the first commercial products, and has been traded for centuries.

* The oldest known Amber article was created at the end of the Old Stone Age (8 chiliad BC). It was an Amber plate found in reindeer hunting camp near Hamburg.

* In the 1st - 3rd centuries intense Baltic Amber trade was with Roman Empire and its colonies, so called Amber Road.

* At the end of the 3rd century trading roads flourished to the East along Dnieper, Dnester, Prut Rivers, also they get affiliated with Slavic tribes, Roman colonies near the Black Sea, later with Byzantine Empire and Arabic countries.

* BALTIC AMBER HAS BEEN FOUND IN EGYPTIAN TOMBS.

* In the Homer's «Odyssey» (8th century BC) Amber was mentioned in several songs.

* Baltic Amber has been used since ancient times in Folk Medicine for its healing properties.

* Amber was once part of a trees immune system.

* Baltic Amber is the only Fossil Resin containing 3 to 8% of Succinic Acid which acts as a major therapeutic substance to the human body.

* In present day times, tens of effective medicines containing Succinic Acid have been manufactured and patented.

* SOME BELIEVE AMBER HAS HEALING POWERS AND THE POWER TO WARD OFF WITCHES.

* Hippocrates (460-377 BC), the father of medicine, described medicinal properties and methods of application of Amber that were later used by scientists until the Middle Ages.

* In ancient Rome Amber was used as medicine and as a protection against different diseases.

* Pliny the Younger noted that Roman peasant women wore Amber medallions not only as adornments, but also as a remedy for "swollen glands and sore throat and palate".

* Persian scientist Ibn Sina (Avicenna) called amber remedy for many diseases.

* Prussian duke Albrecht decided to follow the recipe of a Roman physician and sent a piece of amber to Luther as a remedy for stone disease.

* Amber was burned in rooms where patients stayed. In this way, the air was disinfected; possibility of infection with various diseases to others was reduced, as well as recovery was accelerated.

* In the Middle Ages Amber beads were even worn for the treatment of jaundice.

* Amber was used to treat eczema, infections caused by allergies, diseases of thyroid and eyes. It enhanced immunity, reduced risk of infections.

* Nicolaus Copernicus documented that his formulas for medicine included 22 specific ingredients and one of them was Baltic Amber.

* Calistratus famous physician of those times, wrote that Amber protects from madness, powder of Amber mixed with honey cures throat, ear and eye diseases and taken with water cures stomach illnesses.

* As late as before World War II, especially in Germany, Baltic Amber Beads were put on babies to make the eruption of teeth less painful and make the teeth grow stronger.

* Now specialized enterprises produce Amber powder, facial and body scrubs, various creams, Amber balls, incense, tea with Amber.

* German psychotherapists believe that amber can have positive effects on human psyche. Amber calms and protects. It also promotes self-defense instincts, abolishes stress, and gives new strength, confidence and hope, suppresses fear and depression.

* The most famous art object from Amber was the Amber Room.

* In the 18th century the Prussian king Friedrich I. ordered the Amber Room for his Charlottenburger castle in Berlin, which was finished in 1712.

* In 1716 his son gave away the room to Russian Czar Peter I.

* In the middle of the 19th century scientists discovered ways to synthesize natural precious substances and Baltic Amber fell a prey to falsification. Nowadays the Falsification of Amber (especially inclusions) is widespread.

* There are a lot of complicated methods how to distinguish natural Amber, however, the safest way to purchase Real Baltic Amber Jewelry is buying it at reliable shops.

Thank you and if you have any questions, please let us know.

Sincerely

Amber Artisans

About The Author

As a small business, both in our town and in the world, we are extremely focused on every customer. Quality is our #1 priority so that everyone who buys from us has a very successful and personal experience. We are working with natural genuine Baltic Amber and our craft is something we infuse in every sale we make. We want our customers to know how very important they are to us and that we care about every aspect of what we do. Amber is very personal to us. It's the treasure of our country. And it's the most powerful homeopathic remedy that we can give to each and every person who reaches out to us.