Natural Amber

Natural Amber

Amber is fossilized tree resin, an organic gemstone made mostly of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (roughly C10H16O), hardened over millions of years. It ranges from pale golden to deep honey brown, and rare pieces show a striking blue or green glow in sunlight. With a Mohs hardness of only 2 to 2.5 it is soft and light, and it feels warm in the hand.

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Gemstone guide

Natural Amber

About amber

Baltic amber, washed up on the shores of the Baltic Sea and mined around it, is the best-known amber and is about 40 million years old. It has been traded across Europe since prehistoric times. Amber sometimes contains insects, plants or bubbles trapped in the resin millions of years ago. Blue amber, mainly from the Dominican Republic and Indonesia, looks golden in ordinary light but glows blue in sunlight or under ultraviolet light because of its strong fluorescence.

What you'll find in this collection

Our amber is untreated. You'll find rough Baltic amber pieces sold by weight, from about 11 to over 120 grams, and polished blue amber from Indonesia from about 35 to 57 carats.

How to recognise amber

Amber is very light: with a density of about 1.08 it floats in strong salt water, while glass and most plastics sink. It feels warm, not cold, against the skin, and when rubbed it picks up a static charge that can attract small bits of paper; the Greek word for amber, elektron, gave us the word electricity. Under UV light amber usually fluoresces blue to whitish.

Caring for amber

Amber is soft and sensitive to heat, solvents and chemicals. Keep it away from perfume, hairspray, alcohol and cleaning products, store it apart from harder gems, and clean it only with a soft cloth and a little lukewarm water. Never use ultrasonic or steam cleaners.

Every piece is natural, and each listing gives its weight, size, origin and treatment, with photos of the actual piece.