BALTIC GOLD

Amber is fossil tree resin, which is appreciated for its color and beauty. Good quality amber is used for the manufacture of ornamental objects and jewelry. Although not mineralized, it is often classified as a gemstone. Because it used to be soft and sticky tree resin, amber can sometimes contain insects and even small vertebrates.

Semi-fossilized resin or sub-fossil amber is known as copal.

Amber occurs in a range of different colors. As well as the usual yellow-orange-brown that is associated with the color "amber", amber itself can range from a whitish color through a pale lemon yellow, to brown and almost black. Other more uncommon colors include red amber (sometimes known as "cherry amber"), green amber, and even blue amber, which is rare and highly sought after.

A lot of the most highly-prized amber is transparent, in contrast to the very common cloudy amber and opaque amber. Opaque amber contains numerous minute bubbles. This kind of amber is known as "bony amber", even though it is in fact true amber.

The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber, jantar, Baltic gold with about 80% of the world's known amber found here. It dates from between 35 to 40 million years ago.

Amber often contains organic inclusions: insects, arachnids, myriapods, small amphibians, plant remains, grains of sand and gas bubbles. They are a source of information about the time when amber was formed, the animals which lived in the proximity of resinous trees or were active when the resin flowed out.

People have believed in the magical power of amber from time immemorial. This belief has survived until today – at present amber is applied in treating rheumatic and thyroid ailments, in the cosmetics industry and in other fields as well.