Vintage Tibetan silver and copal pendant

Vintage Tibetan pendant made with a piece of beautiful copal. Handmade into a pendant with a Tibetan silver setting.

When looking at Tibetan jewelry (or the adornments on other richly decorated objects such as sacred statues and ritual attributes), you will find that some types of (gem)stone are used especially often. On one hand, this of course has to do with the simple fact of availability in the regions where those items have been made, but on the other hand also the symbolic meanings of these particular (gem)stones plays a big role.

Amber is one of those gems highly appreciated in Tibetan jewelry, because it is considered to be one of the Seven Treasures (or Gems) of Buddhism.  When looking at its spiritual-energetic dynamics , amber is often associated with the Fire element and especially in Fire's aspect of bringing clarity and calmness to the mind, dispelling negativity and balancing energies. Thus making a deeper state of introspection possible.

Real amber is quite scarce and can be extremely high priced. For this reason of course also a lot of more accessible alternatives are being used, both natural and artificial ones. This pendant in our shop is made with copal. Copal is a semi-fossilized resin (i.e. a younger relative of the completely fossilized amber) and is often used as a less expensive alternative for amber.

This pendant has a diameter of 47 millimeters (measured without the eyelet) and a weight of 36 grams. Being from vintage origin, it might show some signs of its age and previous usage.