The amber bluffers pub guide

Amber weighs slightly more than the uniquely lightly salted water in the Baltic Sea. It floats like a soap on the bottom, following the currents until it comes up on the shore or sinks in shallow water.

Here it may be gathered by hand or by net - a popular pastime on the Baltic coast. More often it is mined in clay deposits or found among the quartz sand.

In saturated salt water it floats. Mix a couple of spoons of salt in a cup of water to test your amber.

The quantities of resin generated by the Baltic deposits is phenomenal. This can be confirmed simply from the amount of amber that has been extracted from various Baltic mines.

The Palmnicken factory, a German government controlled company extracted in 1925 a record 1,205,916 pounds. Commercial mining and gathering activities have been recorded from as early as 1264 AD and in various guises continue to this day. Imagine, how much amber has been extracted over a period of 700+ years?

It is also true to say that the majority of this extraction was subsequently turned into varnish and shellac. We will never know what wonders have been lost.

Happily, amber resources at the Yantarniy mines are estimated to suffice for some fifty years. At present, the volume of extracted amber is determined by customer demand.

There have been cases, when the demand for amber amounted to an impressive 700 tons per year. On average, each square meter of "blue earth" ground here contains approximately 1 kg of amber nuggets of various sizes.

The amber from the Samland Peninsula in the Baltic is actually a secondary deposit. The original amber forest was probably located further south. The resin was subsequently carried south probably by two great rivers from its original site and deposited in a great estuarial drift of silt and clay. (At the moment this is still speculation as many scientists disagree on this point).

This deposit site extends some way out under the sea. This is also the likely source of amber washed up onto the Norfolk and Suffolk beaches and as far south as the Isle of Wight.

Autumn and spring storms together with strong tides tear pieces of raw amber from the sea bed and strands them on the shore line. If you look for amber here, it is usually mixed in with the stranded seaweed, litter and of course the odd dead seagull.

During the Roman times, higher prices were paid for small amulets in amber than for healthy slaves.

In 79 AD, Plinius wrote that the women of northern Italy wore amber beads against thyroid.

Martin Luther carried a piece of amber in his pocket as a protection against kidney stones.

In ancient China it was customary to burn amber during large festivities. This practice both signified the wealth of the host as well as honoring the guests.

According to Mohammed, a true believer's prayer beads should be made of amber.

The father of healing, Hippocrates, declared amber active against a number of diseases including delirium tremens.

Over 2500 years ago, Thales of Miletos discovered that when amber was rubbed against cloth, sparks were produced and then the amber attracted husks and small wooden splinters. This force was given the name electricity after the Greek word electron which means amber.