Amber Jewelry

Which port (Copenhagen, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, or Stockholm) is the best to buy Amber Jewelry. I am interested in best prices and authenticity.:cool:

Which port (Copenhagen, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, or Stockholm) is the best to buy Amber Jewelry. I am interested in best prices and authenticity.:cool:

My first choice would be Gdansk, but that is not one of your options. My second choice would be Tallinn. In addition to the shops at the gates of Old Tallinn, there are a few at the top of the old city, also. I found the selection of style and price to be the most favorable in these two cities. I don't know your tour plans in St. Petersburg, but a few pieces caught my eye in the Hermitage and Catherine's Palace but time was not on my side for shopping there. As for authenticity, that is a risk but I can't offer to much guidance. I think there was a float test, and another is to smell it as it is set afire, but I'm not sure what you can do in the shop.

http://www.ambergallery.com/Is_it_real_amber_/is_it_real_amber_.html

If you are looking for amber with sterling the options abound. I even saw some at the Charleston SC market last Sunday, along with Matrushka dolls!

Tallinn is where we purchased amber/gold jewelry. I'd have to look at our cc statement from last June to tell you exactly where we bought my ring and pendant so let me know if you 'd like me to dig for it....

There is a shop selling amber jewelry in Catherine's palace in St. Petersburg. The shop belongs to the workshop, which reconstructed the Amber Room. They have a nice selection, everything's genuine, of course.

At Kongens Nytorv (The Kings New Square) next to Nyhavn and the canal tour you will find the House of Amber.

http://www.houseofamber.com/

Entrance to the museum is 25 DKK or free if you have the Copenhagen Card.

And if all else fails the ship will have a pretty good selection too in the gift shops..so check it out before and you'll have somewhat of a comparison...

Which port (Copenhagen, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, or Stockholm) is the best to buy Amber Jewelry. I am interested in best prices and authenticity.:cool:

Tallinn.

Which port (Copenhagen, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, or Stockholm) is the best to buy Amber Jewelry. I am interested in best prices and authenticity.:cool:

We were in Helsinki in Late September 2010. Then took a ferry over to Tallinn for 3 days of sightseeing. Tallinn definetly has lots of shops, with good prices & authenticity. We made several purchases. Because we were there after the last cruise ships of the season, the shops were discounting their prices as the tourist season came to a close. You will love the old city. John

I also would recommend Gdansk first. Next Tallinn

I will add my vote for Tallinn. The selection, quality and unique styles especially in gold, are beautiful. There are many colors of amber and I found a lovely necklace that incorporates a variety of colors.

As others have mentioned, you can find amber at most of the ports in the Baltic. Silver is more prevalent than gold, that is why the pieces in Tallinn were so unique. The prices in Tallinn were higher due to the gold settings, too.

I did purchase some pieces in the gift shop on the Emerald Princess, because they were reasonably priced for gifts.

Another item you will find in Tallinn are the nesting/stacking dolls. I thought the quality was better, than any I saw in the the other ports. I purchased a set that tells the Nativity story, a different scene on each doll. It is beautiful.

Enjoy your trip to the Baltic region. It is amazing.

Folks,

We will be in Tallinn on a Saturday with very problematic hours (07:00 to 15:00), so if shops open at 10:00 and we need to be back on board 14:00, so we would have actually only less than four hours! (Bummer.) As I really want to attend a church concert at noon, I've tried to contact Tallinn merchants who provide email addresses, but unlike all other ports, I've received not one response?

I had thought that I'd locate the best shop for amber bead jewelry (variety, quantity, price) and see if they would open early for a group that I would organize. I had even thought that if some non-Russian commercialism was now in effect, I could negotiate a 1-2 hour tour after our shopping experience as well.

Any suggestions (other than the great idea of comparing to prices onboard)? Tallinn tourism does a great job of sending out a map and tourism magazine, but says they can't get their shop owners to respond to such a request. Just trying to adjust to the cruise lines very poor planning (other large ships leave three hours later) and would appreciate any advice including contacts in Tallinn.

Thanks,

DJ:)

If anyone is looking for amber jewelry in different colors so there are many companies who are providing online amber jewelry designs. I always like to choose amber jewelry for parties.

I would suggest you price up amber at home before travelling. I found that although there were some wonderful original designs out there on our Baltic cruise, it was much cheaper at home. Of course you have no real guarantee that the amber is real and not either fake or reconstituted. In the end I bought a lovely necklace in a market in Talinn, they were selling it as real amber and it did test as amber. Quite honestly it was so reasonably priced and exactly what I was looking for, so I did not care too much. I think it cost me about 55 dollars.

Incidentally, one of the tests you can do is to shred off a tiny piece of tissue (Kleenex type). Rub the amber bead fast on your body and then place it over the tissue. If it is real the tissue will be magnetised to the bead. This will still not tell you if it has been reconstituted, but it will tell you if it is just a plastic substance.

For folks doing a Baltic cruise or otherwise visiting Baltic cities, amber jewelry is an excellent gift to bring back. One comparison is to shops in Russia, that were very expensive. We probably spent too much time in Tallinn comparing prices and range of product around the city. We returned to the store in the town's large old town square. My wife picked out a necklace for herself (she wears it all the time) as well as one for daughter, daughter-in-law, as well as a good friend. My conclusion is that these necklaces were a great way to remember our 2011 vacation. As an aside, my wife has finally started to use a classic purse she selected in a leather store in Kusadasi in 2010 -- with proper recommendation, Turkey is an excellent source of leather goods.

DJ:)

I don't have any personal experience from it.

However I have found a store in Stockholm that sells all sorts of jewellery,

including amber jewellry. The place is called Kristallrummet.

http://www.kristallrummet.se/ They seem quit expensive though.

They have two stores in Stockholm.

One in Gamla Stan, at Västerlånggatan 21:

https://maps.google.se/maps?q=V%C3%A4sterl%C3%A5nggatan+21,+111+29+Stockholm&ie=UTF8&ll=59.325538,18.068851&spn=0.003481,0.014795&sll=59.325448,18.069039&layer=c&cbp=13,143.44,,0,-4.93&cbll=59.325457,18.068885&hnear=V%C3%A4sterl%C3%A5nggatan+21,+111+29+Stockholm&t=h&z=17&panoid=106V_0eVw5IS-gGywuLYrA

And one just south of Slussen, at Hökens gata 6 at Södermalm.

https://maps.google.se/maps?q=H%C3%B6kens+gata+6,+116+46+Stockholm,+Sverige&ie=UTF8&ll=59.317997,18.072253&spn=0.000308,0.000925&sll=59.318093,18.072581&layer=c&cbp=13,120.61,,0,7.67&cbll=59.317997,18.072253&hnear=H%C3%B6kens+gata+6,+116+46+Stockholm,+Stockholms+l%C3%A4n&t=h&z=21&panoid=d9a9faZGrmXKc4ZWW5Qa0Q

I vote for Tallinn. There is a good selection there and more time for shopping than in other ports.

I vote for Tallinn. There is a good selection there and more time for shopping than in other ports.

We bought all of our amber in Tallinn, but this past weekend we were at the National Art Museum in Washington DC and in the gift shop they had beautiful amber jewlery at about 1/2 the cost we paid in Tallinn. So .... you may want to go shopping in DC!!!

I would also cast a vote for Tallinn.

But buyer beware, there are several areas where they have sort of bazaar type sections where you might find things a bit cheaper, but I would stay with regular stores. AND charge your purchases so, if anything was wrong with it, you have a recourse with your CC company.

I would also recommend Tallinn for your Nesting Dolls. They will be cheaper than St Petersburg.

Cheers

Len