AMBER....the beauty of the Baltic

AMBER....that gorgeous orange stone that has been around for centuries. What is it? Where does it come from? And can you really find mosquito DNA inside?
Let's start with the Amber's origins. More than 90% of today's amber stones come from the Baltic region, specifically Kaliningrad, Russia. 

Now that the geography lesson is over, let's get down to the nuts and bolts of amber - actually to the leaves and trees, because amber is really fossilized tree resin. How fossilized? Depending upon the research, potentially millions of years! And what is resin? In a word "SWEAT." You heard correctly. Many trees emit some sort of liquid (at certain times in the tree's cycle) like sap from a maple, or gum from a cherry tree. 

This liquid can remain on the soil, or flow to lower points such as seas or lakes, but during the process, the resin hardens. Over time, pieces of amber are cast up by the waves, and collected by hand, dredging, or diving. Elsewhere, amber is mined, both in forests or underground areas. 

The amber does not look nearly as beautiful as what you can find in the Paz Creations collection, because it needs to be polished, shaped and set. And because amber is often NOT found in large pieces, the beauty of the amber is its variations.

Before we forget....DNA from Amber? It sounds like a potentially great idea, after all they have found amber with fossilized insects within. But, try as they might, scientists have yet to pull any DNA from amber. For now, Jurassic Park will remain a great tale of fiction! 

We hope that you become as obsessed with the affordable luxury of amber as we are!!    

By Anders L. Damgaard - www.amber-inclusions.dk - Baltic-amber-beetle - This file was derived from: Baltic amber inclusions - Ant (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)8.JPGTransferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Common Good using CommonsHelper.(Original text: Work of Baltic-amber-beetle), CC BY-SA 3.0, Link