Uses of Amber

In the 1920's one-half of the production of amber went for the manufacture of articles for smokers, cigar/cigarette-holders, mouth-pieces for pipes. The main finished products of amber can be divided into four categories: jewelry, smoking articles, objects of art, and devotional articles. Jewelry includes necklaces, bracelets, brooches, earrings, pendants, finger rings, cufflinks, teething rings for children, etc. Smoking articles were mentioned above. Another utilitarian use was with balls of amber, that were used to remove lint from clothing because of the ability to generate static electricity by rubbing! Objects of art are items like: carvings, jewelry boxes, cups and dishes, writing utensils, ornaments, chess sets, mosaic pictures, chandeliers. View the beautiful amber ship and amber cabinet. The ship was created in Königsberg by 1934, while the amber cabinet was made in Königsberg before 1742 and currently located in Dresden, Germany. A stunning ornamental amber egg was presented to Gdansk, Poland in honor of the city's 1000th anniversary (!) from a Mrs. Heidrun Mohr-Mayer. Other objects of art include devotional items, such as: Catholic, Moslem and Buddist rosaries, sacred figures, and amulets. Amber is used in skin care products, and for some, amber has magical powers so that red and green amber become metaphysical tools (page down for the amber tools).

Amber and other fossil resins have a practical side too when they are used for varnish and lacquers, and burned as incense. In ancient times the aroma was appreciated in order to camouflage the odor of spoiled food. Modern resin or gum (pine pitch) is used in the production of rosin, turpentine, creams and oils for the perfume industry (Novgorod Province, Russia, Bor Experimental and Industrial Chemical Forestry). Fine amber varnish is applied to violins.

Amber has even been used as a building material. Amber created the alter in St. Brygida Church, Gdansk, Poland. In St. Petersburg, Russia, the walls of the famous Amber Room (image to the right) were lined with intricate carvings and inlaid designs. This palace room is being reconstructed from photographs, and can be visited at Palace of Catherine of Tsarskoye Selo. Other websites on this topic are shown below.

P. Bruhn's Amber Room
In Search of the Amber Room
Principality of Sealand, amber room excavation and salvage operations.
Dragonfly Amber provides a summary.
Amber in Art
On the trail of the Amber Room, BBC News story from 8/1998 by D. Shukman.
Underground race to find the Amber Room looted by Nazis, a news.telegraph.co.uk story from 10/2000 by J. Sparks and P. Sherwell.
Wall panels, detailed individual panels , and an amber case. At this same site, the history of the Amber Room is given in Polish.

The Reconstructed Amber Room.
Photo by J. and M. Melhorn. 12/2002.

Amber has been known since prehistoric times and stone age artifacts are common in museums, such as these from the National Museum of Denmark located in Copenhagen. Amber beads have been found in 4000 year old graves near Stonehenge, England. Amber beads (from the National Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark), amulets, carvings have all been found in archaeological sites throughout northern Europe and along the Mediterranian and Asia. More information on amber use and archeological finds, which are both found at Gintaro Galerija Muziejus.
Commercial web sites are a great place to view amber used as jewelry. Although examples are given, no promotion or endorsement of these sites is intended by the author.

Amber Magic, www.ambermagic.co.uk In addition to beautiful jewelry, visit upcoming Polish amber events www.ambermagic.co.uk/en/events and The Man Guide, www.ambermagic.co.uk/en/art_manguide, created to help with amber jewelry choices!
Gintaro Galerija Muziejus Virginija and Kazimieras Mizgiris Vilnius and Nida, Lithuania www.ambergallery.lt/english Also see The Educational Museum	Amber Goods Piotr Przestrzelski and Malgorzata Przestrzelska 15 Castle Meadows, Blackrock, Cork, Ireland http://www.ambergoods.ie See Irish or Polish Hallmarking information
Amber Studio - Michal Blawat Sopot, Poland http://www.polbox.com/a/amber1/	Amber World, Amber Jewelry Trade System Kaunas, Lithuania www.amberworld.lt
Højer's Amber Page Gerda and Benni Højer Mygdel, Denmark www.hoejersravsliberi.dk Also see Learn about Amber	Andzia's Amber Jewelry and Beads Andzia and Holly Chmil Chinchilla, Pennsylvania USA http://www.amberjewelry.com/ Also see Reading Room, Myths and History
Bursztyn-Amber Stone Live Andrzej Gorski, Poland www.amberabg.com/ Also see Baltic Amber Origin	Amber way Gifts Directly from Lithuania Deimantias Viskas Vilnius, Lithuania www.amberway.net
AmberWorld Jens von Holt Hamburg-Berne, Germany www.amberworld.com/	Drabik's Amber, Marcin Drabik Rotmanka, Poland www.drabik.com.pl Also see Mysteries of Amber
Blue Amber Jacagua and Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic www.ambarazul.com/ Also see Amber World Museum	Dragonfly Amber Daphne Spillers and Andre Nowakowski Humble, Texas USA www.dragonflyamber.com/ Also see What is Amber
Cool Design Richard Kulczynski Lutry, Switzerland www.cooldesign.ch More available from main site	The Amber Shop Aldeburgh and Southwold, Suffolk, UK www.ambershop.co.uk Also see Amber Collectors Club
Silv-Art Amber Jewellery Jerzy Glowacki Gdansk, Poland www.silvart.com.pl	Nikole Kaunas, Lithuania http://www.nikole.parabole.lt
1AmberArts Lodz, Poland www.1amberarts.com	Frederic Burkha's Workshop Chiapas, Mexico www.mexiculture.com/workshop/workshop.htm
The Amber Lady Baltimore, Maryland USA amberlady.com/	Natural Creations Rockford, Illinois USA Natural Creations
Amber Depot St. Louis, Missouri USA www.amberdepot.com/ Also see Secret of an Ancient Rain Forest	JAYVO Designs Jarek Slagowski and Yvonne Supak Dunellen, New Jersey USA www.jayvodesigns.com/ Also see Amber Colors
The Russian Store, Gary and Irene Pearson Arizona USA http://www.therussianstore.com/ index.cfm/fuseaction/products. search/cat_id/2.cfm	Russian Liason Collection New York, New York USA www.balticamber.com
Bernadine Fine Art Jewelry Cincinati, Ohio USA www.bernardine.com/amber_jewelry.htm	Inge Elvingsson Rättvik, Sweden http://www.elvingsson.com/jewelry/
Amber Jewelry and Baltic Amber Alex Zilberg, New Jersey USA www.amberdream.com	Pol-Store Amber Jewelry Staten Island, New York USA www.polstore.com/html/polishamberjewelry.html
Amberica West, Doug Lundberg Colorado Springs, Colorado USA www.ambericawest.com/	Mirmex Warsaw, Poland www.mirmex.com.pl Amber Wholesaler
Pracownia AB Amber Products Gdansk, Poland www.pracowniaab.pl/ Amber Wholesaler	Stenex, Amber jewelry manufacturing Gdansk, Poland www.stenex.com.pl Amber Wholesaler
Venus Gdansk, Poland www.venus.com.pl Amber Wholesaler	Art -7 Bozena and Wojciech Kalandyk Gdansk, Poland www.art7.com.pl Amber Wholesaler
Kia International San Antonio, Texas USA www.kiainternational.com/ Amber Manufacturers, Wholesalers, Retailers	Vessel International, Inc., Wholesale Maryland USA www.amberwholesale.com/ Also see About Amber
Thetis, Manufacturer and Wholesaler Gdansk, Poland www.thetis.pl/	Ambersto Silver and Amber Jewellery Manufacturer and Wholesaler Jozef, Mariusz, Marek Stopyra Gdynia, Poland www.ambersto.pl
Amber Market, Vancouver, BC, Canada www.amber-market.com/page123.htm Wholesale and Retail Also see >>>> Blue Amber by Hermann K. Dittrich Beauty of Amber by Gabriela Gierlowska	Lizard and Other Inclusions in Amber by Gabriela Gierlowska and Wieslaw Gierlowski Amber versus Copal by Scott Anderson Amber Inclusions: Fakes and General Misunderstandings...by Scott Anderson

Connecting Menu:

Buddist rosaries is an image in The Natural History of Amber found within 3 Dot Studio
The amber ship was found at http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/HOBBY/AMBER/ship.htm; the amber cabinet was found at http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/HOBBY/AMBER/cabinet.htm; and the amber egg at http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/HOBBY/AMBER/egg.htm.
Amber skin care products http://www.amberjewelry.com/Bioenergetic_Amber_Skincare.htm is found within Andzia's Amber Jewelry and Beads, http://www.amberjewelry.com/.
Red and green amber metaphysical tools is found within east-west center.
Novgorod Province, Russia is the site of Bor Experimental and Industrial Chemical Forestry
violins is found within Hans Johannsson's violin making home page.
Amber Alter, St. Brygida Church is from http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/JEWELLER/12PJ/alt1.htm.
Peter Bruhn's Amber Room, http://www.ib.hu-berlin.de/~pbruhn/bszimmer.htm.
Dragonfly Amber.com, http://www.dragonflyamber.com/about_our_amber/the_amber_room.html.
Amber in Art, http://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/amber/amberart.htm, a page from the California Academy of Sciences, http://www.calacademy.org.
In Search of the Amber Room, http://www.ovationtv.com/artszone/programs/amber/fire.html, provided by Ovation, http://www.ovationtv.com/about/index.asp.
Principality of Sealand, http://www.principality-of-sealand.org/hotstuff/kulturgueter_e.html, contains other links such as amber room excavation, http://www.principality-of-sealand.org/chronologie/grabungbz_e.html, and salvage operations, http://www.principality-of-sealand.org/hotstuff/dokusbernstein/etransgenehmigung.html.
On the trail of the Amber Room (BBC News story from 8/1998)
Wall panels are from http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/HOBBY/AMBER/amberroom.htm, detailed panels from http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/HOBBY/AMBER/amberroom1.htm, and the case is from http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/HOBBY/AMBER/case.htm. At this same site, is a Polish history of the Amber Room, http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/HOBBY/AMBER/krzywoblocka.htm#a.
Amber Use and archeological finds are both from the Mizgiriai family, Gintaro Galerija Muziejus.
Commercial amber jewelry links, http://www.amber-congress.com/result.php?Keywords=amber+jewelry&host=www.amber-congress.com&cat=1, from www.amber-congress.com

Return to the Amber