Of all the amber deposits in the world, probably the most famous and certainly the largest is that of the Baltic region. It represents some 80% of the worlds known amber resource. Going back into prehistory this amber has been used and fashioned by humankind in countless ways and in measureless quantities.
Amber from this source can be found on the East Coast of Britain all the way to the far shores of Estonia. The Baltic amber deposits range between 35 to 40 million years old and is without the largest source of amber yet discovered.
Botanical Origins
The source of most of this amber has for many years presumed to be the extinct species of tree Pinites Succinifer. This conclusion was originally made by Aycke in 1853. However, as recently as 1985 Poinar and Haverkamp completed research involving infrared spectroscopy and drawing on earlier thin-layer chromatographic studies by Kucharska and Kwiatkowski cast some doubt on this long held view. Poinar et al speculate that probably more than one tree was responsible for the Baltic amber deposits.
Despite this original position of the amber forest, fossil resin from this area has been discovered in: Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, the United Kingdom and Belorussia, some areas are more prolific in their amber bearing strata than others. Significantly around the southern coast of the Baltic sea and predominantly the Samland Peninsula, particularly the Northwestern part of Kalingrad, an area of some 1280 square kilometres.Baltic amber generally has the following characteristics;
Hardness: 2.0 - 2.5 Moh’s Scale.
Specific Gravity - 1.050 - 1.096
Refraction Index - 1.54
Melting point - 480/720Of (250/3800c)
Please visit my website http://www.jacquelinepottercollection.com/ for more pieces for purchase from my collection.
I would like to introduce you to my collection of Baltic Amber jewellery. Each piece is carefully selected for style and quality. I hope you'll enjoy them.
No comments:
Post a Comment