About the Author
Dr. Rice received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University.  Her extensive amber collection has received numerous trophies and first-place awards in mineral shows through out the U.S. ands Canada.  She has travelled extensively to observe first-hand the amber industry and mining techniques, is a popular amber lecturer, has authored many articles in professional gem and mineral journals, and is an expert appraiser of amber holdings. Her work as a jewelry designer has received wide recognition.

She has lectured at Gem and Mineral Shows throughout U.S.A., Canada, and Poland. Dr. Rice has presented for Burgess-Jastak Arts Foundation and University of Delaware Gallery, Wilmington, DE.; Loyal College Gallery, Philadelphia, Penn.; Kansas City Mineralogical Society, MO.; Toronto Gem and Mineral Society, Canada; American Polish Engineering Association, Detroit, MI.; Friends of Polish Arts, Detroit; Midwest Mineralogical Society, Detroit; Mt. Clemens Gem and Mineral Society, Ann Arbor Mineralogical Society,  and Flint Mineral Society, MI.  She was invited to present her "Artistry  in Amber Exhibition" materials at the World Conference on Amber at the  Museum Zeimi, Warsaw, Poland, in 1988, and to consult on amber in Bresia, Italy in 1996.  She attended the International Symposium on Amber  at the Gdansk Archaeology Museum in 1998 and visited the restored amber room in 2003 in Russia.

Sample of Text:

Amber, a gemstone sought after by ancient Stone Age sun worshipers because its beautiful radiance resembled the sun’s rays, well deserves the title, “golden gem of the ages.”  In early Greek and Roman civilizations, amber was so revered it was available only to nobility.  Ladies of the Roman court desired it for its brilliant hue and for protection from evil spells that it was believed to bestow upon the wearer.  In reverence to its talismanic powers, gladiators wore amber amulets when venturing into the coliseum.  Throughout Europe, amber was worn as protection against various and sundry illnesses.

           Although ancient man and the peoples of many later civilizations treasured amber as highly as gold, little was known of its origin until the age of science brought proof that it originated from the sticky resin that flowed from prehistoric trees.  Few gems match amber in respect to its mode of creation, the depth of its history, and its transmission of aesthetic pleasure to man.  None can match it in the range of human knowledge and scientific  information its study reveals.

           Over the centuries, amber primarily came into human hands from the seashores and outcroppings of amber-bearing strata near the Baltic Sea; however, smaller deposits have been found in other places throughout the world.  By the late 1800s, the Baltic amber industry had become highly organized, with extensive mining taking place in East Prussia, a region that is now part of Poland, Lithuania, and the Kaliningrad Oblast--a roughly square landform, approximately 40 kilometers by 32 kilometers jutting out into the Baltic Sea called the Kalinin district of the Russian republic.  Over 16,168 tons of amber were produced in this region alone between 1876 and 1935, and from 1951 to 1986 over 17,700 tons were recovered.  Geologic surveys by Eastern European scientists estimate the Baltic amber-bearing earth contains anywhere from 45 to 2677 grams of amber per cubic meter.  Therefore, much amber is still being produced in the Baltic area and elsewhere.