Why Amber?

Amber contains joy and happiness. It contains life-giving energy. The life that started more than 30 million years ago survived the massive moving of earth plates, masses of heavy grounds falling on them, being washed away miles away and miles deep to the ocean bed and the traces of them still stayed to amazing details inside the tree resin we now call Amber! The treasures of life forms proved its existence through this long and really earth moving experience. Amber is therefore symbolic of life-giving energy.

Amber is popular for thoughtful gift giving to the beloved ones. Amber has a meaningful message about life and survival.

What is Amber?

Commonly referred to as tree sap, however amber is anything but sap! Read below to know more.

This is how it all started millions of years agoLarge number of trees in some parts of the world began to seep its sticky and aromatic resin down their sides and onto the land while filling internal fissures, trapping debris, such as seeds, leaves, feathers and insects on the way. These seeped globes of tree resin collected life forms in the process. As geologic time progressed through the millions of years afterwards, these forests were buried under the ocean or the resin was washed out of the forest floor by large rivers and transported south towards the sea. In the course of time, the globes of resin progressively hardened into a golden gem with a warm and soft glow from within!

This process of fossilizing tree resin of ancient trees is called natural polymerization and oxidization of original organic compounds. In other words, amber is fossilized resin that is million of years old. Most of the world's amber is in the range of 30-90 million years old.

Therefore contrary to common belief, Amber is not produced from tree sap, but rather from plant resin

Amber and Baltic Amber

Since the ancient times, the word amber meant only one thing the Baltic Amber! However, the process of how amber is formed traced more amber varieties in different parts of the world. Although more than 125 types of fossil resins are known in the world, these resins are not amber but its relatives. They are mostly found in Europe and America and each of them has its own name. But the Baltic amber is uniquely known for its quality and is most sought after.

Baltic amber is fossil resin produced by pine trees, which grew in Northern Europe - from southern regions of the present-day Scandinavia and nearby regions of the bed of the Baltic Sea. The climate became warmer and conifer trees started to exude big amounts of resin. Scientists say that amber (or succinite) is a fossil pine resin from this region that has achieved a stable state through oxidation.

Our amber comes from the Palvininkai deposit in the Yantamy, Kaliningrad Province of Russia. The Palvininkai deposit contains 90% of the world's amber. Even now 500-700 tons of this mineral per year are excavated in an open mine using modern mining equipment. Over 90% percent of all extracted amber is of poorer quality and can be used only as an ingredient in other products.