AMBER AND THE KOMBOLOI TRADITION
Exploring the Science and Mindfulness Behind the Practice
Amber is an organic material, a plant resin originating from coniferous trees, which lived between 320 and 60 million years ago. The oldest recovered amber dates to the Upper Carboniferous period, 320 million years ago (www.mindat.org). Over thousands of years, the soft resin became a hard, fossilized resin, and the molecules have polymerized. The conditions of heat, pressure, oxygen and light exposure must be right for the amber to form. Its chemical composition is approximately C10H16O. Amber’s structure is non-crystalline. It may show flow lines, and often have inclusions of exquisitely preserved organisms, such as insects, spiders, frogs and lizards, bird feathers, bones, and plant materials, which were trapped in the tree’s resin.
Amber is found in several places worldwide, but amber from northern Europe collected around the Baltic Sea shores is considered the best quality. Amber is found on the west coast of Koenigsberg in Prussia, which became Kaliningrad of Russia. Amber is also found in Burma, Sicily, Central Europe, Romania, Mexico, Canada, several US locations, and the Dominican Republic (Amber, The Golden Gem of the Ages, Patty C. Rice, 1980). Baltic amber has a distinct “fingerprint” inclusion - plant hairs (stellate trichomes) - not found in the Dominican amber. Although ambers from different countries are equally labeled “amber,” there are differences between the materials based on their age, tree origin, and chemical composition, all of which reflect on the quality.
I reached out to Maggie Campbell Pedersen, expert gemologist from London and author on organic gem materials, who shared with me her latest data on dating amber: “the coniferous-origin Baltic Sea amber is 34-38 million year old (ma) and contains a significant amount of succinic acid (3-8%) compared to other ambers, which contain none or very little”. Pedersen also said, “Amber from the Dominican Republic is between 16 and 20 ma, and so is Mexican amber, while amber from Burma (known as burmite) is known to be over 100 million years old.
Burmite is a little harder than other ambers and is often cracked, with calcite inclusions. Petersen discusses all ambers on her website (www.maggiecp. com) and those from “historic” locations, including North America, France, Lebanon, Romania, and Sicily, and the most recent finds from Australia and Ethiopia.
I asked gemologist, appraiser, and lecturer – and my good friend- Denise Nelson, from the Inner Circle, to share her experience from her recent visit to the Amber Museum – the Bursztyne Museum - in Gdansk, Poland, dedicated to the history of amber. “The museum is
housed in a medieval seven-floor high tower rebuilt after the WWII destruction in the center of the city. Every floor holds amber collections from different periods.
The exhibits, which include the most astonishing ancient plants, animals, and insects encased in amber, thick-skinned amber boulders, and modern art created by local artists, surprise and captivate visitors. Hundreds of natural Baltic amber items, placed in well-lit cases inside the domed dark rooms which once housed a torture chamber and a prison, create a golden glow.” Denise also said, “The local streets, filled with tourist shops selling an abundance of amber items, are in stark contrast to the cold and harsh waters of the Baltic Sea, where the ancient forests once stood and amber has been washed up, collected, traded, and treasured since the Paleolithic era.”
The magnificent Amber Room was a chamber decorated with amber panels in the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg,
Russia. It was initially constructed in the early 18th century, but it was dismantled by the German Nazis and disappeared during World War II. An astonishing reconstruction of those panels and that room began in 1976 and was finished and installed in 2003.
During the 2004 Tucson gem shows, we visited the JOGS Amber Pavilion and the
magnificent Amber Room Museum exhibit with real Amber Room objects and carvings from Russia. I talked to the amber workshop director, Boris Igdalov, who was on site demonstrating. I was fascinated by the craftsmanship perfection of the amber mosaic pieces. Among them a chalice, a plate with the Romanov seal, and fabulous chess set with chess pieces of transparent amber and opaque amber.
Amber was known in the ancient Greek world as electron. It was described in Homer’s Odyssey, and later by the ancient Greek historians Theophrastos and Hesiod, and philosopher Aristotle. Amber was considered an amulet against the evil eye, and a therapeutic against aches of the neck and tonsils. My husband and I saw fabulous amber necklaces at the National Archeological Museum in Athens, Greece, from the Mycenaean civilization, dating to the 15th and 16th centuries BC.
Amber’s hardness is between Mohs 2.0 and 2.5, specific gravity is 1.08 (it floats in a robust salt solution), and refractive index is 1.54. Colors include golden, yellow to orange to brown, pale lemon yellow, reddish, whitish, and, rarely, greenish or bluish. Amber ranges from transparent to subtranslucent to opaque, which is known as “bastard amber.”
Amber can be cut and carved with simple steel tools, such as saws, files and knives. Sanding can be done with sandpaper in various grits – from coarse to fine- preferably with water to avoid heating. Amber can be polished with flannel, felt, or flexible leather impregnated with tripoli powder or tin oxide (Gem Cutting, A Lapidary Manual, John Sinkankas, 1955, 1962).
YOUNG FOSSIL RESINS AND AMBER TREATMENTS
Copal is a fossil resin similar to amber but much younger (2.58 Mya-1760 AD, A Revised Definition of Copal, www. nature.com, Scientific Reports, Nov 2020), and therefore not as hard. It is often sold as copal-amber to confuse buyers. Copal tends to craze easier than amber. Copal comes from Central America, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Madagascar, and New Zealand. One of the methods in identifying true amber is to touch it with a hot needle. Amber produces a strong, distinctive balsamic odor due to its coniferous origin, but so does copal.
There are several natural amber treatments. One is known as “clarification,” under which amber is heated in vegetable oil to become more transparent. During that process, circular disc-like cracks, known as “lily pads,” may occur. Sometimes these inclusions are induced deliberately, and the amber is known as “sun-spangled.” As reddish amber is rare, dyeing amber to a reddish coloration or oxidizing the surface by heating is another practice. Another type of treated amber is pressed amber, also known as reconstituted amber or ambroid. Small amber pieces are bonded together under heat and pressure to form larger blocks.
There are several glass and plastic imitations on the market, but most are easily distinguished from amber. The majority of them are heavier (have higher specific gravity) than amber; hence, while amber floats in strong salt solutions, most plastics will sink, and glass is colder to the touch.
Visit Pedersen’s website www.maggiecp.com and the chapters “Treatments and Enhancements of Baltic Amber,” “Red Ambers,” and “Green Ambers” for her in-depth research, an extensive list of treated ambers, and tests about how to identify them.
THE GREEK KOMBOLOI TRADITION
Known as worry beads in the West and komboloi in Greece, the komboloi is a hand-crafted item with beads on a string in an odd number, with a merging end piece, and
a tassel. The komboloi (plural komboloia) is normally held – or played -in one hand, and it is either twirled around the fingers, or the holder moves the beads one or two at a time up and down the string. The word komboloi is a compound word derived from the Greek words kombos, (=knot), and the verb leo, which means “to say” in Greek.
Although the komboloi has a seeming similarity to prayer beads used in many world religious traditions, the Greek komboloia have no religious function, contrary to Muslim prayer beads, which must have 99 beads for the 99 prayers, and the Hindu prayer beads that have 108 beads. The komboloi came into the Greek culture during the 19th century, after the end of the 400-year Turkish occupation and Greece’s independence in 1821.
The Greek komboloi’s purpose is purely to pass the time and relax, for moments of leisure and solitude, among friends or in loneliness to relieve the aches of a broken heart. Fondling each bead and the beads’ rhythmic falling contribute to a relaxing meditation.
Komboloia were used mostly by older men, often sitting at coffee shops and wine taverns, playing cards and tavli (backgammon) – traditional, iconic scenes from mid-20th century movies and photos. From men within the underprivileged, the underground, and poor, the komboloi has transcended every class and gender.
The komboloi tradition continues today as collectible and decorative items. Souvenir and antique shops all over Greece are filled with komboloia hanging on walls and racks, ranging in size, materials, and prices, from small, inexpensive plastic beads to large gemstone or glass beads, to authentic antique pieces. The old-timers used to rub the amber komboloi to release its aromatic smell, thus making
smell an important component of the komboloi’s value.
The traditional material used for komboloia is natural amber for the most expensive examples and amber resin that has been reconstituted for somewhat less expensive. Natural coral, especially black coral, camel bone, mother-of-pearl, and ivory was also used. Being warm to the touch, organic materials are considered more pleasant to handle than nonorganic materials, including minerals, plastics, and metals. To traditionalists and purists, contemporary materials besides the organic materials are considered sacrilege and wretched imitations (Aris Evangelinos, The Komboloi and its History, Komboloi Museum Publications, 2000). Personally, I enjoy komboloia of all types and materials, and have brought back from Greece many as gifts for my family and friends.
THE KOMBOLOI COMPONENTS
The Greek komboloi, free from religious restrictions, flourished during the past one hundred years. Generally, the komboloia contain an odd number of beads, often 15, 17, 19, or 21. The odd number is regarded as ideal for optic balance.
The most common komboloi length is around ten inches, two palm widths. Longer komboloia, especially collectible ones, are about 13 inches plus the length of the empty cord. The Greek komboloia have an empty cord portion for the beads to move freely up and down. Silk cord is considered the best thread, although some contemporary komboloia include chain instead, another sacrilege to purists.
The preferred bead shapes are tube, round, oval, and sometimes squarish or carved. At the end of the strand, a much larger fixed bead called the “priest” symbolizes power and strength; it may be simple or elaborate, usually tapered. Another bead called the “shield” separates the two threads and helps the beads flow freely. The komboloi is always finished with a tassel.
THE KOMBOLOI MUSEUM UNIQUE IN THE WORLD
The Komboloi Museum is totally devoted to the art and history of the komboloi. It is located in the historic town of Nafplio (Nafplion or Nauplio), the sea-port town on eastern Peloponesse, Greece, about a two-hour drive from Athens. The Venetian castle of Palamidi (built under Venetian rule from 1685 to 1715) looms majestically over
the town of Nafplio. The town later became the capital of the first Hellenic Republic from the start of the Greek Revolution in 1821 until 1834.
The Komboloi Museum was a wonderful surprise when my husband and I visited the area. After visiting the Nafplio Archeological Museum, we walked across the beautiful large plaza, and came across the Komboloi Museum.
The Komboloi Museum was established in 1998 by collector and researcher Aris Evangelinos and his wife, Rallou. The museum aims to save and spread the knowledge of the traditional Greek komboloi. The museum is housed in a privately-owned two-story neoclassical-style building and operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. The exhibition halls are located on the upper floor, while a workshop and retail shop occupy the ground floor.
The museum’s extensive collections, workshop and shop make it totally unique in the world. Mr. Evangelinos studied and collected komboloia since 1958, following the footsteps of his grandfather who had lived in Alexandria, Egypt, and had come across the komboloi trade there. The couple’s komboloi collection includes almost 1,000 strings of beads from different cultures, dating from 1550 to 1950 AD acquired on their travels in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Tibet, India and other places. The komboloia are made of natural amber, reconstituted amber, red coral, black coral (yusuri), bone, ivory, horn, and ebony. Over 360 pieces are on display in four halls, divided into Hinduistic, Buddhist, Muslim prayer beads, Catholic and Monastery rosaries, and the Greek strings of beads.
Mr. Evangelinos talked to us about faturan – a type of reconstituted amber used for komboloia in Egypt. The original formula, mostly unknown today, was discovered by a Kuwaiti chemist, an Arab scientist named Faturan. He supposedly melted down natural amber leftover fillings from carved beads, and mixed them with Bakelite phenolic resin to mold individual beads. Color was enhanced by dipping in red wine or cognac and natural vegetable dyes, and then heated in the oven.
The last genuine faturan beads were made in the 1940s. For the connoisseurs, there is even a difference between the original Egyptian faturan and the Persian faturan produced later, which has a different color and contains more Bakelite. Genuine faturan komboloi beads, most being 60 to 120 years old, are highly collectible and extremely expensive. Today, however, there are several faturan imitations causing confusion in the market.
At the museum’s workshop, the owners conserve old strings of beads - often customers’ family heirlooms. Visitors can watch the fabrication of komboloia with the owners’ favorite handmade beads. In the gift shop, visitors can purchase authentic komboloia, replicas produced onsite, and new styles.
We were very lucky that Mr. Evangelinos was present during our visit, and had the opportunity to listen to his stories, sign our copy of his book, and help us choose a special Baltic ambroid komboloi to treasure back home. Sadly, he passed away four years ago, as his daughter, Eleni Evangelinou, shared with me recently on a phone conversation.
Eleni Evangelinou has taken over much of the museum’s operations and daily tours and continues the komboloi tradition. Ms. Evangelinou pointed out the importance of variations within ambers that result in different quality komboloia, and differences among faturan and mastic komboloia.
IF YOU GO
The Komboloi Museum is located within Nafplio’s Old Town, at 25 Staikopoulou Street. The museum’s richly illustrated website www.komboloi.gr has information, komboloia for sale, and their two publications – including the newest, Amber….the Tears of Apollo.
This area, rich in history, with many archeological sites and museums, is a top visiting destination.