Amber

Generally, talk about amber starts with an inevitable confusion between "mineral" Amber and the ambergris, of animal origin, produced by sperm whales. This animal matter is used only in the manufacture of cosmetics. The ambergris is a fatty intestinal concretion, of long fibrous crystals. Its color is always dirty gray and its accentuated musk odor is used to to moderate the most well known perfumes. Its high content of greases facilitates the mixture of the perfumes essences which need to be dissolved. The Yellow amber or "succin" is found in all honey colors, opaque or translucent, in clear yellow or dark chestnut, while passing by brown, cognac, red, white and black, with or without inclusion of an insect. Odourless when at rest, friction or heating reveal a characteristic perfume which also classifies amber as a aromatic matter. One can smell the vapeur of consumed sap, it’s vegetable origin. This natural mark of the fossil sap is the last trace of the trees which covered the Baltic, at the Oligocene period. As the Yellow amber is a perfume, this will prolong the ambiguity with the ambergris "support of perfume". But it is above all essentially, a matter used in jewellery as well as precious stones. It is also an effective means to fight against certain health problems.

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