Amber -AM13

Amber from Lithuania. Baltic Amber is fossilized tree resin from the Baltic region, with Lithuania — particularly the area around the Sambian Peninsula and the Baltic Sea coastline — being one of the richest sources in the world, historically yielding an estimated 80–90% of the world's amber supply, especially concentrated in deposits near Kaliningrad and washing ashore along Lithuanian and Polish beaches after storms.

Baltic amber formed roughly 34 to 38 million years ago during the late Eocene, when a vast coniferous forest covered what is now Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea region. Resin from these trees fell into ancient river deltas and was carried into marine sediments, where it was buried, compacted, and eventually eroded back out by the sea over millions of years — which is why so much of it is still found washed up on beaches today rather than mined directly.

Its color ranges widely from pale lemon-yellow to deep cognac and even rare greenish or blue-tinted specimens, with cloudier "bastard" amber caused by trapped air bubbles. Inclusions are common, preserving insects, plant matter, and other small organisms from the ancient forest floor in fine detail. Amber has a Mohs hardness of about 2 to 2.5.