In recent years, amber jewelry can be described as a ride in the jewelry industry, and the price has soared year by year! Amber has such a huge advantage as a latecomer. What is the reason for the soaring price of amber?
Here are some reasons for amber's willfulness:
First, the process is complex and embodies dual values.
Amber is a precious organic gem, known as "the lightest gem", with high ornamental and medicinal value. In recent years, amber has become popular in China, and its price has been rising. Amber has been a decorative work of art since ancient times. It is an organic gum turpentine, which flowed out from the cracks in the bark of pine trees thousands of years ago. After the crustal movement, it was buried deep underground and gradually condensed into a natural fossil.
The sales of amber art in large and medium-sized cities in China are growing rapidly, but the output of amber will not soar because of the increase in sales. It is reported that amber is mainly distributed along the Baltic Sea, and occasionally produced in some open-pit coal mines in Fushun, Liaoning, China, followed by the most scarce Dominican Lanpo.
Besides the limited output, because the carving method of amber is different from ordinary jade, it takes a long time to train a qualified craftsman, and it takes dozens of processes to complete a carving.
Because of this, the collection and investment value of natural amber carving ornaments will be continuously improved for a long time to come.
Second, the market is improving.
It is understood that there were few collectors of amber art in the past. Until the mid-1980s, with the prevalence of the religious relics market, amber began to become popular in Singapore, Japan and other places, with an increasing number of collectors. In recent years, many European and American art lovers have also joined the competition, making amber a new favorite in the collectible market, and the market price has been rising all the way.
At an art auction held in Taiwan Province Province in 1992, a beautiful amber bead was finally sold for NT$120,000, which caused a sensation in the international art market. At present, the transaction rate and price of natural amber artworks auctioned at various large-scale auctions in China are lower than those of other jadeites. Generally, the transaction price of amber beads and bracelets in the Qing Dynasty is mostly between 20,000 and 50,000 yuan. In the collectible market, the transaction price of amber works of art is basically equivalent to this level.
Due to the gap between domestic and foreign amber transaction prices, amber collectors in some Southeast Asian countries began to pay attention to and gradually entered the domestic auction market.
Third, functional scarce resources.
The main reason for the increase in the value of amber handicrafts is its special raw materials. Amber not only has good ornamental value, but also has medicinal value. Li Shizhen, a famous doctor in Ming Dynasty, described the medicinal properties of amber in detail in the thirty-seven categories of Yumu in Compendium of Materia Medica.
Because amber is the "essence" of natural things, the elements it contains can promote human metabolism, eliminate toxins, and improve the disease resistance and anti-aging ability of human cells. According to a boss who wears amber bracelets for a long time, wearing this thing is to ward off evil spirits and make good luck; Second, it can relieve your backache and scapulohumeral periarthritis and play a health care role.
In Europe and other places a long time ago, amber was as valuable as gold and became a symbol of noble status. In the domestic market in recent three years, amber has become the new favorite of the rich in China. Amber collection has flourished and won the favor of the market for its eternal beauty. Because the supply of amber is non-renewable, the collection market has been rising all the way. Simply from the price point of view, it is a fact that the price of amber exceeds that of gold.
With the increase of China people's wealth, many investors hope that the steady increase of amber price can provide the guarantee of asset preservation, and the continuous increase of amber price has become an irreversible trend.
There are more than 100 known amber producing areas in the world, so where is amber's hometown? According to the International Amber Association (IAA), more than 85% of the world's high-quality amber is produced in the Baltic Sea. As early as the Middle Ages, the processing and trade of amber began here, and gradually formed the world-famous "Amber Road". In this respect, the coastal area of the Baltic Sea can be called the hometown of amber.
The most famous mining areas are located in the coastal and offshore areas of Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland. Amber in this area is the largest mining area in the world today, and its raw ore is commonly known as Baltic amber. Most Baltic amber contains succinic acid which is beneficial to human health, so it is also called succinic acid.
So far, Kaliningrad, Russia, located on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, is the largest amber mining area in the world, accounting for about 90% of the world's mine reserves, reaching 200,000 tons. However, due to the official control of Russia, the annual production of amber ore is only about 300 tons, including a large number of small materials weighing several grams.
Therefore, the quality materials suitable for making the first piece of jewelry will not exceed 30 tons, and the quality materials that can be exported outside Russia will not exceed 5000 kilograms, according to 35%? In terms of output, only less than 2000 kilograms of high-quality amber products are supplied to markets outside Russia, especially in Asia.
In addition, Dominica around the Mediterranean Sea and Myanmar, a gem country in South Asia, also have world-famous amber mining areas, and Fushun, Liaoning, China is also a very famous producing area, but the output is extremely rare now. The variety, color and quality of amber vary from place of origin.