Amber brooches
By Amber Brooches
Popular nowadays, Amber is one of the materials used in brooches which has been used since the earliest prehistoric times. Our ancestors in the Bronze age or possibly before, The Greeks, Romans and ancient Celts all treasured amber set jewellery. More recently into Victorian Jewellery, in the Art Deco era and of course the amber brooch is very popular nowadays. Amber tumbled into beads or as a cabochon is how we normally see this sort of jewellery.
A bit about Amber
Amber, the fossilized resin of pine trees, in the main it has been under the sea for 60 million years. It is found in a range of colours, normally we see it in honey shades but it can vary from a pale whitish or lemon colour through to almost black. Cherry red amber is very sought after and a natural amber in shades of blue is most rare. Natural amber is cut, carved and polished into the required shape. As it is very soft for a gemstone is is possible to carve it quite intricately or alternatively it can be faceted. Most often we see amber polished smooth. If you find a piece of antique jewellery set with amber you will sometimes find that it has become opaque a sort of butterscotch colour . Modern amber tends to be more translucent often with imperfections inside.
Here is a super Amber brooch, modern but still very attractive, you can see the imperfections. These may be remnants of prehistoric petals and seeds:
Care of Amber Brooches
Take a look at the material the amber is set in. Often this is silver but look for hallmarks to be sure of this or ask your jeweller.
As Amber is quite soft it needs to be handled with some care, store it separately or protected from other brooches so that it does not scratch. Also avoid leaving your amber brooch in direct sunlight for a long time. Solvents in perfume and hairspray can damage your amber, the best thing to do is to use these first and put your amber jewellery on after. Perhaps clean it as soon as practicable after wearing.
When cleaning your amber please do not use an ultra sonic cleaner or harsh chemicals and do not use a jewellery dip or a silver dip. A soft cloth and a very tiny drop of pure olive oil are often recommended. If the jewellery is set into gold or silver you could try and clean the metal without touching the amber.
How to tell an Amber brooch from costume jewellery Faux Amber
As Amber is so popular these days the price is rising and so fake or faux amber brooches are being produced. How can you tell a real piece of amber from a piece of plastic or resin jewellery? The traditional method was to make a saturated salt solution, amber will float in this where as glass or plastic would sink. This method does not work on pieces of amber which are set into metal as they would sink with the weight of the metal. I have heard that if you stick a hot needle into amber that it smells of pine trees. I am not going to try this on a piece of amber jewellery as it would be damaged.
Here are two tests that you can try on your jewellery. Rub it against a piece of wool, its electrostatic properties produce static electricity which will attract dust. Secondly amber can glow a greenish yellow under an ultraviolet lamp
Valuing an Amber Brooch
Amber brooches can be purchased from about £30 upwards depending on the age, setting, size of the piece and craftsmanship. Very occasionally a piece of amber is found with an insect trapped into it and such pieces if genuine would fetch a few hundred pounds or more. Beware of fakes if the amber is set with an insect though and only buy from a very trusted source. Please pop over to my vintage jewellery shop at www.antiquesavenue.co.uk where I like to have one or two pieces of amber in stock.