“Amber was one of the first substances used by man for decoration. It was also employed at a very early period for amulets and medicinal purposes.  The brilliant and beautiful yellow of certain ambers and the fact that this material was very easily worked, served to make its use more general and it soon became a favorite object of trade and barter between the peoples of the Baltic coast and the more civilized people to the south.” ¹

The first thing you must know is that the name Amber Copal is not correct. It is either Amber or Copal, but not both.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Geological: Amber is not a crystal. It is not a mineral. It is a very light organic material-fossilized tree resin.

System: Amber is amorphous (meaning it does not have an ordered structure).

Growth Habits: Amber can appear as nodules or small masses of various shapes and sizes, often it is rough or cracked on the surface.

Hardness: 2 – 2.5

Color: Amber can range in color from a pale, buttery lemon yellow to orange, red, brown, nearly black to blue (rarely) or green (rarely).

In order to qualify as true Amber, it is NOT sufficient for a tree resin merely to harden by losing its volatiles. The molecules have to polymerize, which can take millions of years (or at least 100,000 years). After polymerization, Amber becomes significantly less soluble in common organic solvents, and so will not become sticky if wetted with alcohol, acetone or gasoline. (Copal on the other hand may).

Types (no list is ever complete, but this is a good start)

baltic amber

Baltic Amber is the most common variety which is found along the shores of a large part of the Baltic Sea (principally Poland and Lithuania). Picture at left shows Baltic Amber in a variety of colors.

Black Amber aka Oltu stone, actually a type of Jet (lignite) found in eastern Turkey.

Blue Amber – Although all Dominican amber is fluorescent, the rarest color variation of the Dominican variety is blue. The blue color is due to light (Rayleigh) scattering. Under artificial light, the it appears like ordinary amber, but under sunlight it has an intense fluorescent blue glow. Blue Amber is some of the most valuable and expensive.

Any other variety will not display this phenomenon, because its original resin is not from the same tree species.

Burmese Amber also known as “Burmite”, is a Cretaceous age amber up to 99 million years old found mainly in the Hukawng Valley, Kachin State, Myanmar (Burma). This is the most common variation containing insect inclusions of the Cenomanian.

Dominican Amber is nearly always transparent with a higher number of fossil inclusions than other types.

blue amber
green amber

Green Amber (natural), like its sister Blue Amber, is found in the Dominican Republic. The color is due to light (Rayleigh) scattering. Under artificial light, the amber appears ordinary, but under sunlight it has an intense fluorescent green glow.

Green Amber (Manufactured) is often Amber or Copal that is heat treated in an autoclave or through a radiation process.

Mexican Amber

Mexican Amber is found mainly in Chiapas, Mexico, roughly contemporary with Miocene era Dominican amber, and produced by the extinct Hymenaea mexicana tree which is a relative of the Hymenaea protera tree responsible for producing Dominican Amber.

New Jersey, USA This type  is found on the Atlantic coastal plain of North America, dated to the Cretaceous, Turonian.  Sometimes called Raritan amber, due to the location where it is found (Raritan and Magothy Formations of the Central Atlantic (Eastern) coast of the United States). This material has been known since the nineteenth century, with several of the old clay-pit sites now producing many specimens for study.

mexican amber

Sri lankan Amber is found in sea coast in a very small quantity also called Indian or Indian Sea Amber .

For other Locations, visit the Mindat.org map here

Buyer Beware!

Amber is one of those labels that is overused in excess. Many resins, like Copal, do not follow the specific guidelines of true Amber, yet, it is often sold as such. Many times, bugs and other flying insects are inserted by heating the material, putting the bug in the hot goo and letting it cool. This is a common practice.

Amber is often imitated by plastics, colored glasses and some modern tree resins. However, its hardness is usually greater and tougher than other resins.

Much of the material marketed as “amber” (especially that from Colombia and Madagascar) is far too young to be considered amber, and is in reality just dried tree resin. It is more accurately called Copal.  Copal is a  subfossil resin. Locations include:

  • African and American (Colombia) copals from Leguminosae trees family (genus Hymenaea)
  • Dominican or Mexican type (Class I of fossil resins)
  • Copals from Manilia (Indonesia)
  • Copals from New Zealand (trees of the genus Agathis –Araucariaceae family)

Other imitation Ambers made from young resin include:

  • Kauri resin from Agathis australis trees in New Zealand.
  • Other fossil resins: burmite in Burma, rumenite in Romania, simetite in Sicilia.
  • Other natural resins — cellulose or chitin, etc.

Simulated

Ambroid is made from smaller pieces of the genuine amber, which are welded at 140-250 degrees C (284-482 degrees F) and 3000 atmospheres pressure into a substance that is easily mistaken for natural.” ²

Tests for Authenticity

There are ways to check for authenticity. If you have a piece that is without holes, jewelry makings, clasps, etc., the easiest test method is the Salt Water test. Pour salt into water for the “Float” Test. (2.5 tablespoons of salt to every 1 cup of water) I find that using 3 cups of water and 7.5 Tablespoons of salt works very well. After several minutes of stirring the salt will dissolve. The low specific gravity will make it float in your salt water mix.

Carry out the test and then wash the sample with pure water. Note: This is NOT an accurate test to detect Copal or Polystyrene.

One of the most accurate tests is the “hot pin” test. Honestly, this one always makes me nervous, but it is a good indicator of true material. Please note that the slight mark of burning remains and cannot be reversed. Proceed at your own risk!

You basically heat the end of a sewing needle (make sure to protect your fingers that are holding the needle. It can get quite hot, quite fast, so you don’t want to burn yourself) and insert it into an imperceptible place on the specimen (a hole of a drilled bead, towards the bottom, etc.). If you smell a definite pine-tree scent it means it is real. If it smells like plastic? It is NOT the real deal.

Final Thought

Amber is such a beautiful piece to hold . Its energy and wide range of uses makes it a must have for any collector. As always, be educated so that you can be a smart consumer.

References:
theconcernedgemologist.com
Gemdat.org
Gia.edu
Wikipedia.org
Wikipedia.org (Blue)


¹ The Curious Lore of Precious Stones by George Frederick Kunz (pages 55-57) Published 1913
² Gemstones of the world (page 228) by Walter Schumann Published in 2001
Simon & Schuster’s Guide to Rocks and Minerals (Page 276) Published 1977, 1978

Baltic Assortment image by PrinWest Handelsagentur J. Kossowski (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Blue image by Parent Géry (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Green image by Parent Géry (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Mexican Assortment image by AlejandroLinaresGarcia (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Want another educational article? Try this one! Heat Treated, Dyed and Color Enhanced

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