The Mysteries of Amber
The Mysteries of Amber
We kind of got into amber doing research on the Ant Bracelet. As a natural source used in making jewelry for thousands of years, amber might be called the first and true Environmental Jewelry. For any of you Neanderthals out there that haven't got a clue what we're talking about, Amber is the fossilized resin from ancient plants. Caught within this primordial mixture, many insects were encased alive, and survive to this day in these little chunks of semi-transparent yellow goo.
Most amber can be found in the Dominican Republic and in the Baltic region. Don't ask me why, I haven't got a clue. Some of it is well over 130 million years old. Amber is also found in other parts of the world in much more limited quantities. Yes even here in New Jersey. The Photo is actually the oldest know specimen of a fly trapped in an Amber nodule, it is 25 million years old. (Photo Coutesy of M. Meyer )Who would have ever thought it possible.
The largest know specimen was found in Germany outside of Sarawak in 1991. It was a single piece weighing more that 150 pounds. It is currently in the Museum fur Naturkunde in Stuttgart, Germany.
Interest in Amber skyrocketed after the making of Jurasic Park. Everyone wanted to get a piece of Amber with a bug in it. In fact most jewelry made up to this point rejected amber that had the bugs. It was thought that it was only good for curiosity and educational uses. Not anymore. Bugs encased in amber are now one of the more popular forms of amber jewelry. But beware.... There are a lot of fake out there. True amber is not inexpensive, and if you are offered a deal that seems to good to be true, it is. Fakes are usually too perfect and uniform in both color and clarity. Insect inclusions that appear perfectly placed are also suspect. It just didn't happen that way. Most insects struggled to get free of the resin as it surrounded them, so many are contorted or otherwise in unusual positions.
One test you can run is the Hot Needle test. Heat a pin to red hot and insert it into the suspect amber. If it gives off a piney scent your ok. If it smells like burning plastic, guess what ?.....you got taken.
We have been asked my many people if we could offer an expanded list of Real Amber "Environmental Jewelry" such as earrings and pendants with either flies or Ants in them. You know, sort of expand the theme so to speak. We are looking into it, and if there is enough demand, we may go ahead and have produced an exclusive set of FlyPower amber Jewelry. If you have any interest let us know. We'll get you in on the ground floor with special discounts. Send us a note, and we'll put your name in our "special" memo box.