Vintage Tibetan silver and beeswax amber pendant

Vintage Tibetan pendant made with a piece of beautiful ‘beeswax’ amber. Beeswax amber is a name commonly used in Asian gem markets for yellow (often Baltic) amber with a semi-translucent, opalescent, milky and somewhat greasy appearance.

This type of amber is highly valued in Tibetan jewelry, because it is considered to be one of the Seven Treasures (or Gems) of Buddhism. For centuries, beeswax has been used by different Buddhist traditions as an offering to the Buddha and to consecrate holy relics. Beeswax is a symbol of unity, purity, secular wealth (by not taking more than is necessary and feeling satisfied by that) and the Tibetan religious beliefs.

Because of its popularity, in more recent times of course also the fabrication of artificial beeswax amber has increased, to provide a more accessible alternative for the quite scarce and therefore expensive real beeswax amber. Funny enough, this man-made beeswax amber is actually made with real beeswax by special heating and hardening processes.

This beautiful pendant in our shop is made with the ‘real’ beeswax amber; the resin gem from Baltic area’s. It is set in Tibetan silver and has, both naturally and by previous usage, aged to a matte yellow-orange. It is decorated with the image of a fish, one of the Tibetan Buddhist Eight Auspicious Symbols, representing that being truly at one with your element (i.e. becoming the so-called ‘fish in the water’) frees you from (often self-created) pains and fears and thus results in liberation and freedom.

Sizes; approximately 4,5 centimeters diameter. Weight; 29 grams.

Only one available.