Although amber deposits can be found across most of the world, some of the most prized amber jewellery is made from Baltic amber. This is where the world’s largest deposits are found. The age range of Baltic amber is about 40 million years.

Baltic amber started life from the resin of the now extinct Pinites succinifer species of tree. This closest descendant of this tree is the Pseudolarix species. (An example of which is in the picture to the right).

Tree resin is exuded by trees as a protective mechanism against disease and insect infestation.

The resin needed to go through many stages to ultimately become amber. The first of this is the slow evaporation of volatile oils known as turpenes. This process could take hundreds of years, after which the resin would be harder and would be called copal.

The next stage in the process is the change at molecular level that occurs over millions of years. It is thought that it must occur underwater because otherwise the amber fragments and crumbles. This could explain why relatively young Baltic amber can be found in sometimes very large blocks (weighing several kilos) where older Amber from areas such as the UK (120 million years) or Lebanon (125 million years) are in tiny sizes and quantities.