What is Baltic Amber? Age, Origin, and Characteristics.
- Ryan Zschomler
- May 8, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 30, 2025
Baltic Amber
Baltic amber is the world's most popular amber. Famous for its effects when worn against the skin, this has been the amber most prized for jewelry for most of history. Baltic amber is the hardest of all ambers, and the famous white and butterscotch colors can patina beautifully over the course of many years. Insects from 48 Million years ago can be found in immaculate detail in Baltic amber.
Baltic amber is predominantly mined or found along the coast of the Baltic Sea. Baltic amber is between 34-48 Million Years old, from the middle Eocene era. The tree that produced Baltic amber is an extinct pine tree called Pinus Succinifera. Amber is found washed up along the shores of the Baltic sea. Major amber mines exist in Ukraine, Lithuania, and Kaliningrad, Russia.
Fishing for Baltic Amber
Amber trapped on the Baltic sea floor becomes dislodged in big storms, floats to the surface, and then is cast upon the shore by wave action. This is where the amber hunters come in. The hunters will bring large nets to the stormy shores of the Baltic Sea and fish the amber out of the surf!
This is a very cold and difficult endeavor, but very high quality amber can be found this way. Amber hunters collect stones of varying sizes and colors. The yields here are less than mining, but it is free for the people to do and requires no machinery.
Baltic Amber Mines
The Baltic region is home to the largest deposit and primary source of amber in the world. Baltic amber is mined in large scale dredging operations along the shores of the Baltic Sea. There are also several inland mining operations, on land that is rich with undergound amber deposits.
This is what raw amber from the Baltic amber mines looks like after it is cleaned up and ready to be sold. That is, if it is ever sold...
There have been rumors suggesting that a substantial amount of the amber produced in Kaliningrad is stored in government warehouses, deliberately kept off the market to maintain high prices. These warehouses guard vast quantities of Baltic amber, untouched, in order to prevent flooding the market and causing a drop in prices. If they were to be sold freely, Baltic amber would cost a lot less than it does now.
Baltic Amber Workshops
Amber is polished by professionals using a lapidary wheel. Once polished, insect fossils may be found, or not. About one in every 50 polished pieces contains an insect, making them a lot of work to find a single one.
Most of the amber you see for sale in stores will be Baltic amber. This is because the Baltic region produces far more amber than other deposits. It is rare to see any other kind of amber in stores, due to their scarcity.
Insects in Baltic Amber
Baltic amber is renowned for containing clear insect fossils and can exhibit exceptional fossil quality. While they tend to be very well-preserved, the insect fossils from here are quite rare, and usually small.
An insect inclusion’s quality is determined partly by how clear it is under the microscope. The clearer, the better.
This is a group of insects in Baltic amber. Note the different sizes, clarities, and positions of the insects. The bigger, clearer, and more numerous the insects in a piece, the better. And if the species are interacting, this is even more interesting for the fossil record.
Baltic Amber Colors
Baltic amber has a unique set of rare colors, that no other amber on earth is similar to. A few of the most exalted colors from this deposit are butterscotch, royal white, and green. Including many more.
Honey colored amber is the typical yellow amber that all deposits produce. On the other hand, the bone amber is exclusively from the Baltic and highly coveted by collectors.
Some amber may naturally be red, which is quite beautiful. Some other pieces are a dull green, which is rare.
Heat-Treated Baltic Amber
Heat treatment is a little-known secret in the amber world. Low quality Baltic amber is subjected to a heat treatment process that can make it appear higher quality. Heat treatment can clarify dark pieces, or melt many small pieces into one larger one. To do this, the amber is cooked in an autoclave under heat and pressure. The resulting amber will have small circular bursts like mirrors inside called “spangles." It will be slightly less UV reactive than untreated amber.
Unfortunately, this is one of the most common types of amber for sale in stores today, and it is rarely revealed that it is heat treated. Most dealers don't even know or this process, but now you do! When you learn to recognize it, you will see these spangles in a lot of Baltic amber jewelry. Heat treated amber is a thorn in the amber collector's side. Untreated amber is preferred over heat-treated amber. This is not common in other ambers, only Baltic.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good: Baltic amber is the hardest of all ambers, meaning it is the most scratch resistant and therefore the best for jewelry. It also has effects when worn against the skin, which no other kind of amber can do.
The Bad: Heat-treated Baltic amber (also known as reconstituted amber) is one of the most widely seen types of amber in stores worldwide. While this is real amber, it has been melted and remolded. This fact is almost never disclosed, or even known by the sellers. For true amber collectors, heat-treated amber is a mere novelty and not worth collecting. Thank you for reading this post, you can find authentic, hight-quality Amber here at amberbugs.com.
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