Amber

A fascinating gemstone.

- Kusum Mehta

With its dozens of colours and hundreds of shades and half shades, passing imperceptibly into one mother, each piece of amber is a fabulous sight.

In the East, as well as in the West, amber has been regarded as with high esteem for many centuries. The ease with which this material could be polished was an additional attraction to its colour and, therefore, it was used as early as the stone age for amulets and ornaments the magnetic power of amber, no doubt, increased its esteem in the eyes of early people.

Early remains which have been discovered form time to time often contain leads of amber dating from the Bronze Age, burial places have revealed necklaces, parts of which are composed of amber beads. As early as in 12BC there was extensive traffic of amber from the Baltic shows to other parts of Europe, for it was here that most of the amber was found.

The persious, Turks and Arabs were very fond of it and more necklaces, amulets and carved pieces were made out of it Figures in amber were highly prized by Romans. Since olden times people have been trying to find out what amber is and what comes out of legends and myths about amber reflect native ancient ideas concerning its mature. In his Metarmorphases, Ovid cites one such myth about Phacton, son of Helias, the sun-god Amber, it says is the tears of the sorrowing mother and sisters of Phacton, who died a reckless death. The wrathful gods turned these unhappy women into poplars.