Reading your message, it sounds as though you may think that pressed amber (ambroid) is made by beadmakers in Asia, who would take discarded material and reconstruct it.

In fact, although this is a suggestion that has been made many times, there is no evidence that pressed amber has ever been made in Asia, and is only made at three locations: Germany (where it was invented in 1881), Poland, and Russia.

An assumption has been made that anyone can take some amber—because it is resin—melt it and reform pieces into larger blocks (or whatever). Actually, because of the physical change that amber resins have undergone, real amber, when heated, does not melt and become a liquid. It becomes, at best, a hot gummy mass. furthermore, if it is not hot enough it hardens, and if it is a few degrees too hot, it catches fire. In order to press amber, an apparatus is required that gauges temperature very precisely, and can then apply great pressure on the material to press it. Consequently only industries that have these machines make pressed amber.

When I was in China in 1997 I bought prayer beads similar to those you show (and from a retail store here in California, recently). It is difficult to know the source of this amber, whether it's Chinese, from Borneo (the source for "root amber"), Burma, or what. The amber seems dark colored and to have darker inclusions. It may look "pressed" but isn't--as demonstrated by uncut nodules. But it is very unlikely the amber has been pressed unless it is imported from Europe as such. Of course, I suppose that sooner of later the Chinese will HAVE this equipment. But we cannot assume that any amber is pressed in Asia until we know that is a fact.

Jamey