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Techniques for CollectorsAmber question

3rd Jun 2011 20:07 UTCKristi Hugs

I just purchased two hand polished pieces of Amber. They have lots of bubbles and some inclusions of unknown material. I am curious because I got these pieces wholesale at $13.50 and $8.50. I did the pin test on the bottom, and it sorta smells like amber (wasn't a lot of scent to deal with). I also took a q tip and put a little acetone (fingernail polish remover) on it and rubbed it across the bottom to see if it was sticky, etc. The acetone took the "Polish" right off and in fact it left a small fingerprint area where my finger was.


I was going to do the salt water test, but these pieces have quite a few holes where the salt water could get into them making the test faulty.


Due to the price (I do not know of the location) and the fact the polish was removed with the acetone, I am thinking this is Copal and not Amber. Thoughts? suggestions? I have attached a pic just for reference.

3rd Jun 2011 20:33 UTCRock Currier Expert

I don't think acetone effects real amber all that much. However what you have is probably not real amber, but rather copal, of which many tons are found each year and sometimes gathered in forests that are being cut down and sold to people making incense. Some of it is sold in the market place as "amber" because this name has a higher value enabling the people selling it to make higher profits. Large amounts of this material has been coming from Colombia and Madagascar.

3rd Jun 2011 20:53 UTCKristi Hugs

Thanks!! I had a feeling it was Copal as well. Copal is a vegetable resin, isnt it? Don't remember who told me that......:)


thanks again! you rock!

4th Jun 2011 14:06 UTCRock Currier Expert

Yes its origin is that it is a resin from trees, like amber, but it has not been "mineralized" for any significant time like true amber. Some of it is so recent that it still feels slightly sticky to the touch. Others, pieces a bit older will, after sitting around for a while, develop cracking and crazing on its surface because the volatile organic compounds are still evaporating from it causing the material to shrink.


A while back I encountered a sad case where an old guy had been sold a bill of goods about how wonderful this stuff was and he took a great portion of his expendable assets and bought twenty or thirty flats full of pretty big pieces that had been polished to show insect inclusions etc. He became incapacitated because of a stroke and had to go into assisted living. His daughter was frantic to sell the material to raise funds for his care and of course the guy who sold it to him would not buy it back even at a small fraction of what he had sold it for. To make matters worse, much of the material had started to crack which lowered the value still a lot further. A really sad situation.

4th Jun 2011 19:24 UTCDonald Slater

I am relatively surre this is copal from Columbia. use to buy bags of rough copal from there to polish and look for insects and have found some very nice insects and even a tiny flower once. I have also come across some with bubbles similar to this but not as many in one sample. I have heard the copal from there is 5-10 million years old but it all depends who you talk to. Acetone is a good way to distinguish copal from amber and your test does seem to indicate that it is copal. from what I have read.

4th Jun 2011 19:43 UTCAndy Givens

i had a bit of a bout w/ fake amber.... heres the story and link..... regards.....andy

http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,55,211056,211056#msg-211056

5th Jun 2011 06:47 UTCRock Currier Expert

Somehow when I think of copal with insects I think of a local village sending the kids out to gather up dead insects that they stir into an iron pot full of melted tree sap that they pour out on the ground to let cool.

6th Jun 2011 05:47 UTCJamey Swisher

Definitely NOT real amber if it reacted to acetone! Amber should have NO reaction even if soaked in it! This is one of the ways to tell copal from amber. Your piece seems to have a lot of bubbles though, looks almost like reconstituted copal to be honest. I've not seen any copal, nor amber, that was natural and had that many air bubbles in it. But I do have reconstituted copal and amber here with lots of air bubbles similar to that.
 
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