AMBER - Valued from Antiquity to the Present as a Gemstone

Amber is fossilized tree resin (not sap), which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry.

                                                         
There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents. Because it originates as a soft, sticky tree resin, amber sometimes contains animal and plant material as inclusions.

Amber is heterogeneous in composition, but consists of several resinous bodies more or less soluble in alcohol, ether and chloroform, associated with an insoluble bituminous substance.
                                   
The abnormal development of resin has been called succinosis. Impurities are quite often present, especially when the resin dropped onto the ground, so that the material may be useless except for varnish-making, whence the impure amber is called firniss.

Amber has been used since the stoneage from 13,000 years ago. Amber ornaments have been found in Mycenaean tombs and elsewhere across Europe. To this day it is used in the manufacture of smoking and glassblowing mouthpieces. Amber's place in culture and tradition lends it a tourism value; Palanga Amber Museum is dedicated to the fossilized resin.

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Article By:
Komal.D.Chhabria.
Jewellery Designing Instructor(SDI)              

Antique and Vinatge Jewellery - The Major Difference between the Two

Antique Jewellery is customarily defined as Jewellery crafted more than 100 years ago. For an item to be considered antique, it has to be atleast 100 years old. Many pieces from the 1920’s are now considered antique.

Vintage Jewellery is usually identified with a particular era and includes the historic Georgian and Victorian, Art Noveau and Edwardian design periods as well as the Art Deco, Retro, Mid-Century, Modern and Contemporary Periods.

Most experts consider it to be anything that is atleast 20 years old. So anything from the 1980’s and earlier.

       

The major difference between Antique Jewellery and Vintage Jewellery is the age. Both use rare and beautiful objects and metals. Its certainly true that the age of an item is big factor in its worth. This is because the Goldsmithing techniques used in the past are often superior to the techniques used today.

ANTIQUE FINISH

           

Antique Finish Jewellery is very different from Antique Jewellery. Antique finish is nothing but the dull finish given to jewellery of the new styles. It is also known as Oxidation that is the polish or finish given to the jewelery.

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Article by;

Komal.D.Chhabria.

Jewellery Designing Instructor(SDI)