Photo by Angela Lansbury.
I learned about Amber in Poland from the Jewellery & Gem Show.
The city of Amber is Gdansk on the north coast, the Baltic Sea coast of Poland. You can visit an amber museum, attend an amber exhibition every year, and get your amber authenticated as real. Two lovely ladies, Alexandra and Margaret (in English, in Polish you add some sh sounds) told me all about it when I met them at the Jewellery Gem World show in Singapore in September 2022.
Apparently, amber feels warmer than synthetics. It is still living, has been evolving hundreds of years, and is still able to change. It is affected by heat, will change colour.
They showed me a chart of amber colours. If you visit the annual amber exhibition in Gdansk, you can buy amber. Detour to their stand to get it tested. Any problem? It's rare, but has been known. You could protest to the seller (the retailer who might say they too, were misled by the wholesaler). Sh. Don't say I told you. If you want a certificate from them at the exhibition you have to pay. For most people just knowing they had real amber would be enough.
Why would you need a certificate? To tell your family. To keep. To show an insurance company. In case you want to sell your jewellery later, or buy better pieces and would like to release the earliest ones you bought. To be sure you were not buying piece of plastic.
Visiting the amber museum has shot up my wishlist. I have their magazine which is in Polish and English, very handy if you are keen to learn a few words of Polish easily.
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