China’s woes take sheen off amber as traders fear risky times ahead

It is believed to bring luck and good health, but prices that have soared by 1,000% in past five years could go into reverse

Forty million years ago a group of ants sat on a tree trunk watching another ant at work. A drop of sap welled over them; the rest is palaeontology. The ants' story has come alive in Poland where a pendant featuring the Tertiary Period work scene is one of the main attractions of Amberif, the annual amber trade fair. In the past five years, amid soaring interest from China, the gram price of amber has overtaken that of gold. But now there are fears the Chinese economic downturn is about to impose an ice age chill on the sector.

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