Glass imitations of amber

While visiting shopping malls in large cities we often come cross amber jewellery. At first sight we believe this is a real Baltic amber but lots of products are its imitations. This is because the market is flooded with cheap glass imitations of amber. Why does it happen?






Since the moment the man started to make glass its advantages were visible right away. Glass ornaments have become a basic addition to women’s wardrobe. Glass beads found in Poland date back to 770-550 B.C.

In the antiquity and middle ages glass vessels were affordable only for wealthy people who played important role in society. The 10th century brought about further development of production and workshops appeared in Wolin, Opole, Kruszwica or Wroclaw. Glass jewellery was Wolin’s specialty, especially rings. With time, glass production expanded so it became available to mass clientele: people living in the country. Glass beads, rings and bracelets produced at the turn of 13th and 14th century started to lose their value and people stopped using it as jewelry and started to ornament their surrounding with glass.

We notice a steady decrease in the amount of extracted amber which raises its price. Additionally, people tend to pay much more attention to the price, which makes the market open for cheap imitations certain customers sought for. Amber producers and sellers have recently began exporting amber to European markets. Baltic amber is widely appreciated and highly valued.

Not only jeweler’s are inspired by amber, clothing or hi-fi producers use amber to decorate their products. We need to pay special attention to appropriate labeling of artificial amber, in this way we won’t compete with amber. These days, amber imitations are so good that even experts find it hard to differentiate them from real amber. However, glass amber is quite easy to recognize, since its structure is totally different to real amber’s structure. However, we shouldn’t treat them as non-competitive with natural stones. According to people selling costume jewellery, amber-coloured is the most popular one.