The short answer
Good amber is light for its size, warm to the touch, and carries irregular patterns inside it that no two pieces share. It is fossil tree resin, tens of millions of years old, and it is soft: it scratches more easily than any stone in the shop. Judge it by clarity, by what is inside, by size and by colour. Keep it by putting it on last, taking it off first, and storing it alone.
What amber is
Amber is not a mineral. It is the hardened resin of trees that grew tens of millions of years ago, which is why it feels different from stone the moment you pick it up. It weighs little, it warms in the hand within seconds, and it is never cold in the way glass is.
The pieces GrainMoon sells are described on their pages as natural Baltic amber, flower amber or floral amber; one pendant is described as old Baltic amber. Where a page says natural, that is the word used for that piece. We do not run our own laboratory tests, and we do not say more than the page says.
How quality is judged
Four things, in this order.
Clarity
Some amber is transparent, some cloudy, some opaque. None of these is better in itself. A clear honey pendant and a milky white flower amber bead are different materials to different eyes. What matters is that the clarity is even, not muddy.
What is inside
Clouds, flower-like discs, flakes and botanical inclusions each have their followers, and none is a fault. They are how the resin hardened. Floral amber and flower amber take their names from these inclusions: the red-orange flakes caught inside a floral amber teardrop, or the cloudy white pattern that runs through white flower amber. Because the pattern formed as the resin set, no two pieces are alike.
Size
Large, clean pieces are rare, and the price of a large clean teardrop reflects how few there are. Because amber is so light for its size, a large pendant still sits comfortably.
Colour
From pale cream yellow through honey to the deep red of ombre amber. Ombre blood amber, a term on several of our pages, describes a transparent piece that shades from yellow at the top to dark red below. It is a colour description, not a grade.
The honest signs
Genuine amber is light for its size, warm to the touch, never cold like glass, and it carries irregular internal patterns. Those are the signs a buyer has always used. They do not replace a laboratory test, and we do not claim that they do.
Why our amber pendants say One of a kind
Each pendant is cut and polished individually, and the stock is one. The pendant in the photographs is the pendant that is sent. For amber this matters more than for most materials, because the pattern inside is the piece.
How to keep it
Amber is soft and scratches easily. The rules are short.
- Put it on last, after perfume, hairspray and lotion, and take it off first.
- Clean it with a barely damp soft cloth and dry it at once.
- Keep it away from alcohol, solvents, ultrasonic cleaners and long heat, including a hot car.
- Store it alone, not in a box with stone or metal, which will mark it.
Amber slowly oxidises with light and air and can deepen in colour over many years. Storing it away from strong light slows that down.
If a piece chips, polishing out a small scratch is sometimes possible and a chip usually is not. Email support@grainmoon.com and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth trying.
What amber traditionally stands for
Amber is traditionally associated with warmth and vitality, and has been carried as a protective stone for centuries. The gourd shape, hulu, carved into several of our pendants, is a traditional blessing motif. We describe these as tradition. They are not a promise of any result.
