Abstract

Amber, together with jet and coral, is one of the few ‘organic gems’; its use as an ornament and as an art medium throughout history has been the subject of several books (Hunger 1979; Rice 1980; Fraquet 1987). Amber is fossilized tree resin which can vary in age from 4 to 225 million years. The exact process by which plant resins become amber is unknown. However, it involves evaporation of essential oils and polymerization, which result in the …