Amber
- HEX
- #FFBF00
- RGB
- 255 191 0
- HSL
- 45° 100% 50%
- CMYK
- 0 25 100 0
Amber or Gold?
More orange than gold.
Language
Amber gave us electricity. The Greek word for amber was elektron, a name tied to the shining sun. Rubbed amber attracts dust and straw, and in 1600 William Gilbert coined the Latin electricus, amber-like, for that force. German calls amber Bernstein, 'burning stone', because it burns.
History
Amber is fossilized tree resin. Prussia built a whole room of it, backed with gold leaf, and gave it to Peter the Great in 1716. German troops took the Amber Room from the Catherine Palace in 1941; it vanished after 1945, and a reconstruction opened in 2003.
Culture
On British traffic lights, the middle light is amber; Americans call it yellow.
Science
Baltic amber is resin from conifers that grew about 40 million years ago. Dinosaurs died out about 66 million years ago, so most amber is far too young to hold them, and only rare older ambers date from their time. The Jurassic Park idea of cloning dinosaurs from blood in amber-trapped insects does not hold up.
Poetry
In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Phaethon's sisters weep for him until they turn into poplars, and their tears harden into amber. The prophet Ezekiel reached for amber to describe the fire of God; older English Bibles render the brightness 'as the colour of amber'.
Kin
- Gold: The Amber Room's panels were backed with gold leaf
- Yellow: Traffic lights: Britain's amber is America's yellow
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Amber' (elektron; Gilbert, De Magnete, 1600)
- Wikipedia, 'Amber Room' (1716 gift; looted 14 October 1941; rebuilt 2003)
- Finlay, Jewels: A Secret History (2006)
- St Clair, The Secret Lives of Colour (2016)
- Finlay, Color: A Natural History of the Palette (2002)
- Gage, Colour and Culture (1993)
- Ezekiel 1:4 (King James Version); Ovid, Metamorphoses II
Hex values are screen approximations. Every page lists its sources.