The ethics of the amber market: Burmese vs Baltic

Q: Is buying Burmese amber illegal?

Depends on where you are. The EU and US have sanctions on Myanmar's military-controlled industries; amber mining in Hukawng Valley is controlled by groups linked to those sanctions. Direct import is restricted in several jurisdictions. Many ethical retailers refuse to handle Burmese amber regardless of legal status.

Q: Why is Baltic amber considered ethical?

It's mined transparently, mostly in Poland and Lithuania, by regulated commercial operations with EU oversight. Worker safety, environmental impact, and tax compliance are all documented. There's no conflict-financing or human-rights concern.

Q: What's the difference in appearance?

Baltic amber is typically 44 million years old, cognac-coloured, often with milky inclusions. Burmese amber is 99 million years old, can be redder, and historically had higher quality insect inclusions. Modern consumers generally can't tell them apart without lab testing.

Q: Do museums still display Burmese amber?

Existing collections, yes. New acquisitions have largely stopped since around 2018-2020. Major museums (AMNH, Smithsonian, Stuttgart) have public ethics policies about not acquiring new Burmese specimens given the current situation.

Q: Does this affect resin replicas?

No, replicas are simply tinted polyester resin, made anywhere. There's no real amber involved at any stage. The ethics question only applies to genuine fossil amber.

What changed in the last decade Until around 2010, Burmese [amber](/guides/what-is-amber-real-fossils-vs-resin-replicas) was mined and traded openly, mostly for the Asian collector market. The fossil-bearing amber from Myanmar's Hukawng Valley is the only source of genuinely Cretaceous-era inclusions in commercial quantities, making it scientifically valuable and commercially expensive. Two things changed. First, Myanmar's political situation deteriorated, with the 2021 military coup making the country's resource extraction industries increasingly controlled by armed groups linked to the military. Second, journalists and academics documented working conditions at the amber mines, including child labour, accidents, and the funnelling of mining profits to military-affiliated groups. Major science museums responded by publicly stopping acquisitions of new Burmese amber. The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology has explicit ethics statements. Many academic journals now require provenance disclosure for any amber-inclusion paper. Baltic amber: the ethical alternative Baltic amber comes from coastal cliffs and seabed deposits around the Baltic Sea, primarily Poland, Lithuania, Russia (Kaliningrad), Latvia, and Estonia. It's the oldest commercially-mined amber source in the world, with extraction dating back to prehistoric times. Modern Baltic amber mining is regulated commercial operation. The largest operations are in Yantarny, Russia (which has its own complications under current sanctions) and in Poland's Gdansk region. Polish amber is the most reliably ethical source in 2026, EU oversight, documented labour practices, environmental controls. The trade-off: Baltic amber is younger than Burmese (44 million years vs 99 million years), so insect inclusions tend to be from extinct Eocene species rather than from the more dramatic Cretaceous era. The colour is also more conservative, golden cognac rather than deep red. Dominican amber: the second alternative Dominican amber, from the Dominican Republic, is younger still (around 20-30 million years old) but more visually striking than Baltic. It's transparent, with a slight blue fluorescence under UV light, and produces clearer insect inclusions because the resin was very clean. Mining is artisanal, mostly by small local operations. Ethics are mixed: legal extraction is regulated, but informal mining without proper safety equipment is common. Worker conditions vary by mine. For most consumers, Dominican amber is an acceptable middle ground, neither pristine like Polish nor problematic like Burmese. How the replica industry sidesteps the question All commercial 'amber' resin paperweights, mosquito-in-amber paperweights, and similar display pieces are polyester or epoxy resin tinted to look like amber. No [real amber](/guides/what-is-amber-real-fossils-vs-resin-replicas) is used at any stage. This sidesteps the ethics question entirely. The replicas can be manufactured anywhere, typically in China, sometimes in Europe or the US, using fully legal, fully traceable industrial materials. The insects suspended inside are either 3D printed plastic, modern dried insects, or sculpted resin pieces. None come from fossil sources. Buying a replica means you don't contribute to the amber-mining supply chain at all. For most decorative uses, this is the correct choice. The look is the look, regardless of whether the material is 99 million years old or two months old. When real amber actually matters Three contexts where [real amber](/guides/what-is-amber-real-fossils-vs-resin-replicas) is worth the extra cost and ethical consideration: serious scientific collecting (you actually want the genuine specimen, not the appearance), heirloom jewellery (real amber holds value differently), and historical reproductions (a museum display that has to be authentic). For desk objects, gifts, conversation pieces, or general display: replicas are the correct choice. They look the same, they cost 1/100th as much, they don't raise ethics questions, and they're made of stable modern materials that age predictably. The replica industry exists specifically because the genuine market has these complications. If you do want real amber, buy Baltic or Dominican from a retailer that discloses provenance. Skip anything labelled 'Burmese amber' regardless of how attractive the price. The supply chain is too complicated to verify, and the museum world has been clear that this isn't a category where consumer purchases are currently appropriate.