Amber Love

Some people walk into Zsa Zsa’s and head straight for the turquoise. Others drift toward the crystal lamps. But there’s always one group the quiet ones who stop the moment they see the amber case. They lean in a little. They tilt their heads. They don’t even realize it, but they’re reacting the same way people in Poland have reacted to amber for hundreds of years: curiosity first, then warmth.

Joanna grew up with this stuff. In Gdańsk, amber is not exotic. It’s everyday magic. Kids find little pieces on the beach after storms. Old men sell strings of it at the Sunday market. There’s even a museum full of amber sculptures so detailed you’d swear someone carved them yesterday. To her, amber didn’t feel special when she was youngit just felt like “home.” only after moving to Montana did she realize how unusual it is to stand in front of something that has lived through 40 million years and still glows like it just woke up.

Where It Really Came From?

Here’s the part most people don’t know: amber is the ghost of an ancient forest that no longer exists.

Around 44 million years ago, Northern Europe was covered in huge pines and prehistoric relatives of today’s firs. These trees weren’t gentle. They cracked, snapped, bled resin all the time. When one got damaged, it released sticky golden tears to protect itself. That resin rolled down the bark, picking up whatever life threw at it bits of leaf, pieces of moss, tiny insects who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then nature got involved.

The resin fell to the forest floor. Storms buried it. Time pressed it. Heat changed it. Molecules rearranged. That sticky drop slowly turned into something so tough and stable that it could survive glaciers grinding across continents.

And that’s exactly what happened.

During the Ice Age, massive sheets of ice pushed down from Scandinavia. They scraped the land like a giant bulldozer, scooping up fossilized resin now amber and dragging it south into what is now Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and parts of Russia. When the glaciers melted, rivers carried amber outward. The Baltic Sea shaped the coastline and, strangely enough, also became amber’s final resting place.

That’s why amber washes up on Polish beaches like seashells.

Why So Many Colors?

Amber’s color has nothing to do with dye or polishing.

It’s basically the diary of the conditions it survived.

• Clear amber means the resin was clean and hardened slowly, deep underground.

• Milky “butter” amber formed with millions of trapped air bubbles like fossilized whipped cream.

• Cognac/honey amber picked up organic particles from soil and roots.

• Green amber often came from lying near decayed plant matter or absorbing minerals.

• Black amber has so much ancient bark and debris inside you barely see through it.

Every shade is a fingerprint of where it traveled.

What Amber Meant to People

Before people even understood what amber was, they noticed one strange thing:

it gets warm in your hand.

Not metaphorically physically warm. Other stones feel cold. Amber warms up like skin.

This made ancient people believe amber was alive.

Some thought it was sunlight turned solid.

Some wore it as protection.

Some burned it as incense.

Some ground it into medicine.

In the Middle Ages, Polish and Baltic merchants carried amber along trade routes all the way to the Middle East and Spain. Kings collected it. Sailors wore it for good luck. Mothers pinned it to children’s clothing to keep fevers away. Objects carved from amber were considered gifts worthy of royalty.

It was called the Gold of the North long before anyone in America ever saw turquoise.

Amber in Zsa Zsa’s Today

When Joanna brought amber to Bozeman, she wasn’t sure how people would react.

Montana isn’t exactly known for Baltic fossils.

But the reaction surprised her. People didn’t see jewelry they saw warmth. They picked up a ring and held it a little too long. They commented on how different it feels from everything else. Several customers told her the amber “feels like a good memory,” which made her laugh because that’s exactly how people in Poland describe it too.

In the store now, you’ll find:

• milky, buttery pieces that look like soft clouds

• classic honey tones that glow under the shop lights

• greenish amber with deep earthy veins

• clear amber where you can stare into tiny prehistoric worlds

• traditional Polish silver settings

• modern, clean designs you can wear every day

Joanna doesn’t just bring stones; she brings stories.

She brings the Baltic Sea wrapped around a silver band.

She brings a forest that disappeared millions of years ago, somehow still shining.

Amber may be old, but the way people react to it in the shop feels brand new every

1. What makes Baltic amber so special?

Honestly, the simple answer is: time. Real Baltic amber is ridiculously old. Like, “this existed before humans even thought about existing” old. Around 40 million years. It came from giant prehistoric trees up in Northern Europe that don’t even live anymore. The resin dripped, the forest shifted, glaciers shoved the whole thing across the continent, and somehow those little golden pieces ended up on Polish beaches.

When Joanna brings amber from Gdańsk, she’s basically bringing pieces of that vanished forest to Bozeman. And you can feel it. Amber doesn’t feel like stone it warms in your hand. People always comment on that.

2. Why does amber come in so many different colors?

There’s no magic trick to it. It’s just whatever happened to that drop of resin millions of years ago.

If it hardened slowly underground, it turned clear.

If it trapped tiny air bubbles, it became milky, like butter.

If it touched soil or roots, you get the honey tones.

If it sat with plant matter, it gets that green tint.

If it mixed with bark and old forest debris, the whole thing goes almost black.

So the color is basically its travel journal. Nature wrote it, not humans.

3. How can I tell if amber is real?

Hold it. That’s the first test. Real amber is warm or warms up fast. Glass doesn’t do that. Plastic feels dead. Amber almost feels like skin. It’s also light surprisingly light. And if you rub it gently, you might smell something a bit pine-like, which makes sense because, well… it used to be tree resin.

Buying from someone who knows exactly where it came from is the easiest route. Joanna grew up around the real stuff in Poland, so she’s picky about what lands in her shop.

4. Does amber have any spiritual meaning?

People have believed that amber protects and calms for so long that it almost doesn’t matter if you “believe” in crystals or not the story is older than any crystal book you’ll find. My grandmother used to say amber keeps bad energy away. Others use it for grounding or comfort. The funny thing is, when people in Bozeman pick up amber for the first time, they usually pause and say, “Oh wow, this feels warm.”

And that little moment says more than any spiritual definition.

5. Where can I buy real Baltic amber in Bozeman?

If you want the real thing actual amber from the Baltic coast, not the Amazon “honey jewelry” stuff Joanna’s shop is pretty much the only place in town. She brings it straight from Gdańsk, where amber is almost part of the city’s personality. Her collection changes all the time, but you’ll always find butter amber, honey amber, darker pieces, and even the green ones that make people look twice. Zsa Zsa’s is downtown, and honestly, the amber case kind of glows on its own. You’ll know it when you see it.