How to choose an amber souvenir

Fascinating beauty, mythical halo, healing properties, the glory of the royal stone, palpable warmth, ancient mystery, fashion trend – all these are amber products. They were given by primitive ancestors and it can be argued with confidence that descendants will also not give up this undoubted pleasure until the end of the century. Would you also like to support the tradition of giving souvenirs made of solar mineral? All of the above will ease the problem of choice, and perhaps also help the birth of your own ingenious gift idea.

Myths and reality of the solar mineral

The frozen honey of wild bees, solidified oil, solar ether, the tuck of the earth, the consequences of a global catastrophe staged by the proud son of Helios – Phaeton, the never-ending tears of the goddess Yurate, punished for an unforgivable misalliance ... All these are just a few of the ancient attempts to understand the nature of the amazing stone. He owes some of them to his organic origin, which the ancient Roman writer Pliny tried to prove, and others to his incomparable properties.

No one doubts now that amber is nothing more than the fossil resin of coniferous trees. But scientists are still arguing about how, under what conditions and for what reason this unique natural phenomenon occurred. And although there is no consensus on the details, the general patterns are still established.

So, based on the geological picture of the territory where amber deposits are concentrated, it can be concluded that the southern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula and the adjacent areas within the borders of the current Baltic Sea were once covered with coniferous forest. About 45-50 million years ago, due to global warming and a sharp humidification of the climate, trees began to flow abundantly with resin. It was oxidized, first accumulating in the soil, and later solidified, washed out by rivers and streams and carried out to sea. And when a giant glacier moved the layers of the earth, the range of amber main deposits expanded to the Carpathians.

One way or another, but Russia, or rather the Kaliningrad region, is a kind of amber monopolist, possessing the largest mineral reserves in the world and technologies of its processing adopted from the Germans, brought to perfection.

Palette

The amber palette is not limited to yellow alone. There are more than 300 shades of it in nature, from milky white to black. Yellow, orange, red, brown are more familiar colors to the layman. But phosphorescent blue and green amber seems fantastic to many, but it also exists. However, this is no longer our property, but the inhabitants of Mexico, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, where prehistoric carob trees once grew: blue amber owes its exotic color to their resin, and the mysterious glow in the dark to the volcanic ash that settled in it.

In addition, amber also differs in light transmission. The most expensive is transparent, like a tear, the cost of which increases significantly in the presence of so–called "inclusions" – insects, leaves and other inclusions preserved in amber, left over from the most ancient flora and fauna.

Translucent amber and cloudy translucent amber have a huge number of small voids, which creates a haze. Most of them are present in bone, or as it is also called "foamy" amber, which practically does not pass light rays.

Baltic amber is distinguished by its softness, pliability to processing, for which it is appreciated by craftsmen. But only a few craftsmen take up blue amber from Central America: for all its beauty, the stone is hard and rebellious, which ultimately affects the fabulous price of products made from it.

Varieties, forms and value

The most famous varieties of amber include:

• Succinite is the Baltic amber, which makes up 98% of the world's reserves.;
• glessite is a brown opaque amber;
• bokkerite is a dark, opaque amber, characterized by elasticity;
• hedanite is a wax–colored stone;
• Stantienite is a fragile type of black amber.

The natural form of amber is divided into drops and drips, and the latter are on- and intra-barrel. A variety of amber stalactites is less common.

As for the price, in addition to the factors already mentioned, the cost also varies from the size of the source stone: a product carved from a single piece is always more expensive than one made up of fragments. You can also navigate by color: yellow and orange amber are inferior in price to green, and red exceeds it in value. Brown is considered the most inexpensive.

Authenticity

Isn't it a fake? The question, alas, is not idle when buying any amber, and especially expensive products. The production of plastic parodies is much cheaper, which creates the temptation to cheat the buyer. Modern technologies are also used to help unscrupulous sellers, through which pseudo-stones are created that are very similar in appearance to natural amber.

There are many properties of amber that make it easy to check. According to the Mohs scale, the hardness of amber ranges from 2-3 (for comparison, diamond has a hardness of 10), so amber is easy to scratch with a needle or knife. When heated, it first softens, and only then, at fairly high temperatures of 315-350 ° C, it begins to melt. And when burning, amber exudes a pleasant tarry smoke – incense. Gorenje. In the rays of a fluorescent lamp, real amber "lights up", while the fake does not react to them. Many varieties of amber do not sink in steeply salted water.

There are many verification methods, but who would want to scratch and even more so melt and burn an expensive product? The lamp is not very affordable, and the salt is not very reliable. But! The manufacturer always provides an authentic amber product with a certificate – this is a more realistic way to be vigilant when buying. And in the case of purchasing a very expensive thing, it is not a sin to order an examination.

The Return of Russian Amber Pride

In the troubled 90s, the criminalization of the amber industry and the predatory illegal extraction of it practically deprived Russia of the privileges of a monopolist, turning it into a mineral resource appendage. Tons of contraband were shipped abroad and for a song. Their own production of amber products was reduced to low-grade souvenir consumer goods, such as axe hedgehogs and beads for granny.

However, even in this extreme degree of decline of the industry, world-famous craftsmen remained in the country. Using technologies that have no analogues, they made piece amber masterpieces. But not for ordinary mortals, but by order of the richest people on the planet.

A few years ago, under the personal supervision of President Vladimir Putin, the picture began to change, and this time in our favor. Since 2012, a number of measures have been taken to develop the industry and a bet has been placed on domestic processing of amber. The results of this are already visible today in magnificent souvenir exhibits from the best Russian artisans, which have become relatively accessible, appeared in abundance and admire the variety of author's ideas.

By the way, even at the grandiose amber plant located in the Kaliningrad region, almost all the work on stone processing is done only by hands, which is why finished amber products are never exactly the same and amaze with the painstaking elaboration of every detail.

What are the rich storefronts and catalogs?

Amber souvenirs are hundreds of elegant objects of various functions and purposes, including:

• Paintings and panels made of amber are a great way out for anyone who wants to give an impressive-looking amber gift, but at a reasonable price. Wall decor with all kinds of subjects, stylistics and color is not made of stone as such, but from the waste of its processing – amber crumbs. Because of this, very spectacular interior decorations are more than affordable. Along with budget ones, there are also more expensive ones, where the image is laid out in a mixed way: crumbs plus fragments of stone. And for true connoisseurs of the genre, there are full–fledged mosaics in which the pebbles are carefully selected and finely matched to each other.
• Amber money trees became famous in Russia due to the spread of the ancient Eastern esoteric teachings of Feng Shui. According to his main postulates, the energy of certain objects and substances is able to attract well-being into the house. So the positive energy of the tree, as a symbol, combined with the magical properties of amber, serves as a magnet for financial flows. There are many varieties of amber money trees, from light wire to massive ones based on cuts of real wood. Experts also endow them with varying impact power, depending on the number of branches and the shape of the crown. So when buying such a gift, you will have to devote a separate time to a detailed study of the issue.
• Amber tableware – all kinds of glasses, bowls, cups, sugar bowls, vases, bowls and plates. Amber is used as the main material and as a decoration for products made of other elite textures. Amber tableware, in addition to its bright beauty and collectible value, has useful properties. It is believed that amber contains about 40 compounds that have a beneficial effect on all body systems. In folk medicine, alcoholic and aqueous tinctures are widely used: the stone is filled with liquid for a certain time, after which it is used for potions and ointments.
• Amber figurines and figurines have a rich history. The elaborately carved amber figurine has long been considered an object of special luxury. Judging by the works of ancient historians in antiquity, a tiny sculpture made of a sunstone was worth more than a young healthy slave. Pharaohs and oriental rulers made up entire collections of amber statuettes. Some figurines are also appreciated for symbolic magic: an elephant with its trunk raised, a ship with sails inflated by the wind – this is also the subject of careful study before buying a souvenir as a gift. Amber is used both as a material of sculptural fantasy and as a beautiful background or finish of a figurine cast in silver.
• Amber flowers are a kind of unfading bouquet beloved by ladies of all ages. And then the masters compete with each other, creating buds and inflorescences of unprecedented beauty from amber plates permeated with sunny color. Amber flowers crown elegant flowerpots, become part of the decor of clocks, candlesticks and other interior items, or inspire a planar plot of an amber panel. In all cases, the romantic floral aura is enhanced by the kind energy of the stone.
• An amber watch is a philosophical contrast between time and eternity. Resin frozen millions of years ago counts down the seconds in the present. Mechanical, quartz or hourglass watches are made a luxurious gift for personal and official celebrations, on the occasion of important dates.
• Amber caskets are another universal gift trend: humidors, timemouvers, chests for storing documents and jewelry boxes – a theme that will never outlast itself and will find itself in any interior circumstances.
• Chess and backgammon made of amber are where the eastern amber traditions are fully reflected. Each figure is a sculptural work, and the box and the playing field at the same time are a complete picturesque plot. Along with natural amber, an amber composite is also used. Valuable wood species make up a worthy company for a beautiful stone: stained oak, Karelian birch, etc.

Who should I give it to?

The amber gift has enough recipients. Connoisseurs of antiquity adore him for the tangible connection of the times. Mystically inclined natures see amber products as powerful protective charms and talismans. Men love him for his restraint, women, on the contrary, for his brightness. Exclusive lovers are proud to own a thing that exists in a single copy. Collectors are counting on the value growing over the years. Foreigners adore it as exotic, and compatriots – as another reason for national pride.