Featured Help with brooch - is it amber?

Hi, I have this sweet little brooch marked 830 S - no country or makers marks.
I thought the cabochons looked like butterscotch amber, but I've seen some that also look similar that say natural amber - or are they the same thing? Approx 3.5cm across, 3cm high. thanks in advance for your help.

 

Amber is susceptible to photoaging, it becomes cloudy and over time, a separate color segment becomes similar to egg yolk. It is popularly called old amber. Has a high value.

 

Very pretty.
It does look like three egg yolks.
Have you got a UV light as amber reacts to UV.
I think 830 is a Scandinavian silver fineness mark but someone more knowledgeable will be along soon.
Id be researching that S!

 

Looks good for egg yolk. I agree, get a UV on it.

 

Maybe Norwegian?

 

@DragonflyWink

 

I've a Danish souvenir spoon with similar separate '830' and 'S' marks...

~Cheryl

 

I started out thinking possibly Danish but changed my mind.

 

It looks Scandinavian to me..

 

Trust your instincts, Sue - the brooch is more in the Danish skønvirke aesthetic...


My Copenhagen spoon with similar marks:






~Cheryl

 

I agree.

Denmark is also amber country, between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. We used to go on holidays to Denmark every autumn, and my mother regularly bought amber jewellery there.

 

Thank you, Cheryl!

 

Hi, yes from my research I thought Danish as well - I have several other items with the 830 S (I always thought the S stood for silver - but perhaps not) some Danish, some from other parts of Europe. I bought it in a thrift shop a few weeks ago. I also bought several items of cutlery from the same shop with the three castle mark, so they could have been donated together by someone with a Danish background - or not. I have tried a UV light on them, but they just look more egg yolky with a pin prick of purple in the middle - no fluorescence.

 

That is the way egg yolk amber fluoresces, exactly as you describe, a more opaque egg yolky look, with a dot of fuchsia or purple colour.

 

Oh perfect! thank you Any Jewelry - when I looked it up, the pieces of amber appeared green - but they were raw pieces (ie not shaped or set in anything).

 

Show us a photo if you can Dory then we know what you are seeing . I’ve got several pieces of Amber, some confirmed and some dubious and they all fluoresce slightly differently.

 

Here are a couple of photos taken tonight and the one with UV definitely is looking like Any Jewelry described. So is it natural, Baltic, egg yolk or butterscotch amber? Or are they one and the same thing? thanks

 

Natural means it's not been fiddled about with, so is a generic term. Baltic is the place of origin. So, it can be both of those. In terms of colour, I'd say egg yolk.

 

Great pictures!

 

I'm with Obb, it is natural Baltic egg yolk amber.