DigMyGem Gem encyclopedia

Amber

Phenomenal & Rare Gems

Amber is fossilized tree resin, an organic gem rather than a mineral. As resin matured during burial, it hardened into material that can preserve bubbles, plant fragments or small animals in three dimensions.

Identity

Material or variety
Amber
Scientific or material identity
Fossilized plant resin
Classification
Organic gem material
Composition or formula
Organic polymers; composition varies
Crystal system or structure
Non-crystalline (amorphous)
Geological or manufacturing origin
Preserved or mineral-replaced through fossilization.
Mohs hardness
2 to 2.5
Specific gravity
1.05 to 1.10

Origins

Dominican Republic · Lebanon · Myanmar · Russia · Ukraine

Appearance & optical properties

warm honey-orange translucent fossil resin.

History & discovery

People have made amber ornaments since Neolithic times, and established trade routes carried Baltic amber south to the Mediterranean. Greek writers discussed it in the fourth century BCE, while Pliny the Elder recorded both its tree-resin origin and its ability to attract light objects after rubbing.

Uses & care

Common uses
Amber is carved and polished for beads, jewelry and small ornaments. Specimens with well-preserved inclusions are also studied as records of ancient plants, animals and ecosystems.
Handling and cleaning
Amber is soft and has poor toughness. Wipe it with a soft damp cloth and avoid scratches, hard blows, heat, strong light, solvents, perfume, steam and ultrasonic cleaners; prolonged contact with chemicals can damage its surface.

Jewellery

5 pieces of Amber jewellery. Learners earn each one in DigMyGem by learning words; until then it shows as a silhouette.

  • Silhouette of Amber Room

    Amber Room

    Jewel

    An 18th-century chamber of carved amber panels given by Frederick William I of Prussia to Peter the Great and later looted in the Second World War. It is the most famous amber work ever made.

    Photograph of Amber Room
    Photo: jeanyfan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Silhouette of Baltic Sun Pendant

    Baltic Sun Pendant

    Pendant

    A warm honey amber drop holds a trapped insect from millions of years ago, strung on a silver chain.

  • Silhouette of Eridanus Amber Ring

    Eridanus Amber Ring

    Ring

    A clear amber dome the colour of sunlight is set in a golden band, warm as a summer evening.

  • Silhouette of Derrybrien Necklace

    Derrybrien Necklace

    Necklace

    The Derrybrien Necklace is a Bronze Age necklace of about 400 amber beads found in an Irish bog in 1954. It is held by the National Museum of Ireland.

  • Silhouette of Hove Amber Cup

    Hove Amber Cup

    Jewel

    A Bronze Age cup made from a single piece of amber, dated to about 1750 to 1550 BC. It was found in 1856 in a tree-trunk coffin inside a great round barrow at Hove, East Sussex, with a skeleton, a dagger, a whetstone and a small axe, and its amber would have come from the Baltic region. It is in the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.

Sources