Antique Amber Beads from Tibet and Africa
Antique amber beads have their origins in Tibet and in different parts of Africa as symbols denoting health, the earth and fertility. Amber from these two regions of the world have different characteristics that make antique amber beads unique pieces of jewelry.
You can find all shapes and sizes of antique amber beads, but you should know that in the ancient past, the larger the amber bead the more valuable it was. Both Tibetan and African amber beads had different ways of creating the beads, which you can identify when making your purchase.
Antique Tibetan Amber Beads
Tibetan craftspeople used amber beads for trade in the Baltic region for thousands of years, and therefore they understood the value of their amber beads. Their technique of creating their beads reflected this, in that instead of carving the amber into beads, which would leave a lot of valuable pieces as waste, the Tibetans drilled holes through the amber and polished the pieces. This reduced the amount of amber that got chipped and wasted.
When presented with antique amber beads from Tibet, one of the first things you will notice is their organic look, as well as the slight differences in sizes of the beads. The technique as shown above gives antique Tibetan amber beads their very natural look, while the varying sizes is because the Tibetans would choose natural chunks of amber to polish, instead of cutting pieces from larger chunks.
Antique Amber Beads From Africa
African amber beads have their own special look and feel to them compared to Tibetan amber beads. Most of the antique amber beads from Africa are usually from the 18th century, unlike the Tibetan ones that are much older. African amber beads had more consistent sizes and specific shapes, such as round and squares, also unlike Tibetan beads that simply went with the size of the natural chunks of amber.
African amber can be either completely translucent or completely opaque, so each bead should be different from the next one on the strand. This is another way of identifying genuine African antique amber beads, therefore avoid any amber beads that look too similar to each other.
Why Antique Amber Beads?
These qualities of the antique amber beads make them quite valuable, but there are some other benefits of amber beads apart from their historical value and beauty.
First, amber jewelry is considered organic because the amber comes from the resin of ancient trees. This makes antique amber beads very precious, and amber is considered a gem. Amber beads are soft and feel warm to the touch, meaning that they are very comfortable to wear due to their organic nature.
Secondly, there are benefits that your skin gets by wearing amber jewelry. Amber tends to absorb the oils from the skin to make your skin smoother and supple, and the oils themselves make the amber beads look bright and shiny. Antique amber beads, since they may have stayed quite a long time without being worn, will actually work better with your skin and get restored to their natural and beautiful color every time you wear them!
Antique amber beads work well with any type of outfit, whether formal or casual, to add a natural warmth to your ensemble. Always ensure that you buy authentic amber beads to benefit fully from their value.