Amber Jewelry: Understanding Insect-Imbedded Amber Stones

Question

Amber Insect Ring   QUESTION: I had a question on a amber stone that appears to have russian markings.  I am wondering what it is called since it appears to have pieces of insects imbedded inside the stone.


ANSWER: Hi Liz,

I guess I do not understand your question.  It is amber, which is petrified tree sap.  When the sap runs sometimes insects would get caught in the goo. Then over time it becomes amber.  Then someone takes the rough material and shapes it and polishes it and mounts it in a ring or pendant.  That is what you have.


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QUESTION: I see, I have never seen something like this before and it was left to me by my grandmother so I am trying to find out if I need to have it covered under my insurance and if so what type of value do rings like this have or even what it is called.  Do you have any type of information for these types of rings?  I asked a question before and was told by the markings that the ring was Russian 14kt gold, so - so far that is all I know as well as what you just told me about the insects getting caught in the goo - is there a way to date these types of rings and is there a proper name that go by or just AMBER Stone?
Thank you very much for any further help.
Liz

Answer
Hi Liz,

They are just called Amber.  It would be hard to tell how old the ring is.  I do not think that would change the value anyway.  You would need to shop around to find out a replacement value if you wanted to insure it. The real value is the fact it belonged to your grandmother that you can not replace.  

Good luck,

Steven D.Covey