a little bit of gold...

[Arkteia]

Well, I thought, since there have been few photos I shall post my amber beads. Sorry, the photo was made at daylight but the balcony needs painting... in spring, perhaps. No one uses it anyhow.

 

[Arkteia]

And now the whole string... It is unheated, untreated Baltic amber. Opaque beads alternating with transparent ones.

 

[movie zombie]

quite nice!

MoZo

 

[movie zombie]

quite nice!

MoZo

 

[minousbijoux]

They really are quite lovely. Another thing that looks good enough to eat, like caramels...

 

[SB621]

Oh i love the color! It reminds me of caramel candy!

 

[Treenbean]

amber is such a cool material. Love the beads they are quite substantial! I wonder what happened to the amber room?

 

[chrono]

Crasru,
Amber in general is not my cup of tea, but I still appreciate seeing nice amber. My mother was gifted with an amber necklace much like yours and she has passed them down to me. They have never been tested but aren’t as translucent as yours though. Beautiful necklace!

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Caramels is really the perfect description - ymmm!

 

[sphenequeen]

I think these are AMAZING!

 

[Arkteia]

Thank you, MoZo, MinousBijoux, Sarahbear, Treenbean, Chrono, Lady Disdain, Shpenequeen!

Well, I haven't noticed it before but you are right, they do look like a part of my boxed lunch...

Treenbean - as to the Amber room, the versions are very different. Apparently, it was stolen by the Germans and then the place where it was kept got flooded... No one knows, in short. It has been reconstructed according to photographs and is in the Hermitage, and it is beautiful. But you know, any decent museum has rooms (halls) with pictures/objects of art that are not part of permanent exposition. I was in such place, in a small museum in Crimea. As we were explained, some of the paintings that we saw would never be shown to general public since they had been stolen from Germany at the end of WWII and never returned back. We were also told that the process worked both ways and that some paintings stolen from Russia at the beginning of WWII would never be seen by public, either. So who knows...

 

[Lovinggems]

They sort of look like delicious butterscotch , what a lovely necklace. So to test if the amber is real you can take it to a gemmologist?

 

[Imdanny]

This is something we don't see often. Thanks!

 

[Treenbean]

Thanks for the amber room info! I have seen photos, what an amazing room and story.

 

[Arkteia]

LG - thank you! They are all real. And old enough, 20+ years ago I got it. Even at that time it was very difficult to obtain such a necklace. I read somewhere that Europeans prefer opaque/transluscent amber, while Americans like transparent one. This one has both. I got a lot of compliments on it but unfortunately, I do not wear it too often since it is large and I am...er... somewhat endowed on top (I am not complaining! ). But I did wear it during "Culture festivals" at my older son's school. ( I should find a photo, with me wearing a hemp-like embroidered dress, a Russian shawl, and this necklace. And my son dressed i a Cossack-like style!)

ImDanny - thank you very much!

Treenbean - history is so interesting! I always wonder where all these "Private collection" items we see at Sotheby's come from. All these jewels of German monarchs that disappeared during WWII and reappeared much later. And we know that Max Borman escaped during the battle of Berlin and made plastic surgery and took the Reich's money and items of art with him. And never reappeared. And that the USSR was selling its art, much before, during, and after WWII to the West (part of the gold was channeled to support the Communist parties all over the world, but only part). Armand Hammer was a great collector ... he made his fortune in a different way, but his Russian collection was impressive.

On a totally different note - how many people are aware of the fact that "the Shah" diamond, probably Russian's best and one of the largest in the world, was given by the Shah of Persia to the Russian tsar as part of "the ransom" for the killing of Russian Ambassador to Persia (and one of its best poets) during street riots?

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

I have always admired amber and yours are particularily nice! Wear them in health.

cheers--Sharon

 

[movie zombie]

baltic amber has through the ages....and i mean ancient ages...been the most prized.....and still is from what i've read. however, it is very very difficult to obtain now.

i do love the your strand has both types: opaque and translucent. i think i now prefer the opaque.....

MoXo

 

[sapphirecats]

love that amber necklace. I'd love to see that picture of you in a Russian costume, and all decked out. I am of Russian/Polish/Moldovan heritage and I love amber. I had a nice necklace my mother gave me, and I hid it in the house so well....I can't find it. I've been very upset about it, but I have a list of things I've loved and lost....so I loved seeing your picture!