There were plenty of amber attractions in Tucson this year. Each of the fifty trade centers offered an amber (or amber-like) element. Apart from the succinite, there were also several other kinds of amber sold in Tucson – the Mexican amber ("Chiapas", as they call it in the U.S.) and the Dominican amber – which is more rare however because of its price, primitive mining methods as well as the ban on exporting the raw material from Dominican Republic.
Just as popular as Baltic amber is the Colombian copal and so called "African amber". It is significant that most of the exhibitors do indicate clearly the origins and sort of the offered stones (apart from just a few accidents of providing deceptive information – which, unfortunately also included Polish and Lithuania exhibitors).
In the common speech at the fair, most of the amber modifications (including i.e. pressed amber) are mostly described as "reconstructed" or "reconstituted". "Man made" is used is quite popular too – especially as a definition for plastic (synthetic) material.
„Amber treasures”
Apart from the recognized Polish companies that offered Baltic Amber jewellery (in some cases – mixed with Colombian copal), there were amber exhibitors from China and America, as well as Lithuania. Some of the booths were really interesting - true amber treasures were to be found i.e. at Harini&Cosmo from Jonesboro, GA (J.O.G.S.). The company's owner is a frequent guest at Amberif. The offer of Harini&Cosmo includes some elaborate carvings made of amber, ivory and resins. The mysterious dragons and other exotic animals are hand carved in Indonesia. The owner says, "My inspiration and master is the Swiss artist Caspar Labhart, who used to carve cameos and bas-relief at the turn of the 17th and 18th century. His works are displayed in the collection of the Museumslandschaft Hessen in Kassel".
Another curiosity was the booth of Mr Ryszard Kulczynski – the owner of Cool Design from Switzerland. His jewellery is inspired by ethnic cultures and ancient motives – he uses not only Baltic, but also Dominican and Chiapas amber. The company's owner has been travelling for years to explore the role of amber in the cultures around the world. Among the most interesting collections by Cool Design is the one referring to the traditions of the amber route. It includes the series of
rings made of amber which, as the author says, comes from the African archaeological excavations. The chunky elements of the "old" amber, found in the West Africa and Peshawar (Pakistan), are decorated with roman coins from the empire era. The copper coins are covered with patina and have rims made of 21ct gold.
"Old amber means that it was polish hundreds years ago, or maybe even earlier" Mr. Kulczynski explains, "you can tell it by the hand drilled holes – some of them became oval because of rubbing and turning". The owner of Cool Design respects all different kinds of amber – at his booth in the Arizona Hotel (WGJ Show), you could have seen not only Baltic amber, but also the one from Mexico and Dominican Republic. "You can argue about the beauty and superiority of some amber species, but one has to remember that all of them have been present in many cultures for years. The people called them simply amber (ambra, ámbar), no matter where it came from, and you have to respect that", says Mr. Ryszard.
Starborn Creations also presented different amber species (Baltic and Mexican) – but in combination with some exotic colourful minerals such as citrine, topaz and jaspar from the Gobi desert. Starborn Creations is one of the biggest American jewellery companies which offers a very well finished jewellery with semi-precious stones and unique minerals. They use a simple but very efficient marketing method – each jewellery piece has a special tag with a detailed description of the name, origin and other details regarding the used stones. During the J.O.G.S fair, we managed to meet the owner of Starborn – Mr. Arne Christophersen (the interview will be soon available at the amber portal – among the others, we will be talking about selling amber by... carats.)
Stopping at the booth of Mrs Belen Nilson and Jane Bird was also an interesting experience. Mrs Nilson is an amber enthusiast, and Mrs Bird has been travelling around Asia and South America for almost 30 years to get the most exotic jewellery. The two ladies agree that within the U.S, the clients who understand amber and appreciate it most, are the Mexican people. Indeed, in Tucson many of the good customers (also retailers) come from Mexico. It was already in the pre-columbian times, when the Mayas used amber and resins from the Yucatan area – also as medicine. It is said that the "tar water", as they called pine resin steeped in water, was an effective treatment even against syphilis. Today, a very beautiful reference to the traditions of Maya, is
the jewellery from Chiapas state, inspired by Olmec culture –
carved amber in combination with turquoise. Mexican people value their amber – the prices of Chiapas amber are relatively high in Tucson.
„Colombian amber” and the „green Caribbean amber”
Quite many booths (mainly American companies) also offered raw and polished Colombian copal (often calling it „amber”). Mostly, these were the big collectors’ pieces with inclusions as well as simple carvings. Apparently, there weren’t any jewellery items made of Colombian amber (unless mixed with Baltic amber and sold as succinite). Colombian copal is quite popular in the U.S. because of the amount of inclusions and lower price.
Recently, also the so called „green Caribbean amber” has become recognized on the American market. In Tucson, there was one Lithuanian company offering this stone (GJX Show). The name „green Caribbean amber” was first used two years ago by one of the New York’s dealers, who officially introduced this material at the 2006 JCK Show in Las Vegas (there was even a few-page article on it in the 2006 June edition of the JCK Magazine).
This artificially dyed and hardened copal coming probably from Colombia or Dominican Republic (do not however mistake it for Dominican amber), is actually yellow and transparent. The illusion of green colour is created i.e. by using bluish glue under the stone (which, in combination with yellow gives green shade) or heating (baking) the bottom of the stone. The „green Caribbean amber” is also sold in cognac colour.
African and Tibetan art
Amber craft from Africa and middle Asia, also very popular in Tucson, is another whole chapter. In the ancient times, amber transported to Africa thanks to the amber route, used to be a very expensive merchandise – as we know, amber was worth more than gold in those times. Until now, in many African countries amber is still the symbol of wealth. Among the tribes of Mali,
the beads polished in the „diamond shape” attached to hair determine the social status and affluence. In Ethiopia on the other hand, amber was even used as currency.
„The gold of the north” was also very significant in the Asian countries – some exceptional examples are present in the art of nomadic tribes, as well as Tibetan societies. In Tucson, as always, many companies exhibit jewellery form Asia and Africa – the big amber pieces are however replaced nowadays by synthetic materials, hardened copals and resins. In order to protect them from cracking in the heat and to get the effect of shiny „polish”, the pieces are often greased with oily substances or varnished. Unfortunately, most of the exhibitors from Africa do not feel like providing information regarding the origins of their stones, and they simply call the material they use „African amber”. It is difficult to estimate its chemical characteristics – trying to examine it with a hot needle, not to mention melting and other methods of testing would be embarrassing at a booth, nor there was a possibility of buying single pieces for the research (Tucson is meant for the wholesale trade).
Regardless how you assess (both commercially and morally) such a huge amount of imitations, varieties or fakes of amber on the market – their presence is the evidence of amber significance for many cultures. The impact of the ancient amber routes is sill to be noticed nowadays, even in such geographically, historically and mentally distant place as Tucson.
I would like to thank Mr. Wieslaw Gierlowski for the professional help and support in writing this text.
