Amber... or not?

When I think of Amber, I think of that one scene in Jurassic Park with the bug and the needle with the blood. Yeah, I think everyone does. My dad (the crystal/mineral/rock dealer) had a ton of requests for amber after that movie came out -- especially with bugs inclusions.

I'll be discussing golden to brown amber in this article. There are other varieties which can be tackled another day. Please keep in mind, too, that this article is for the general reader or jeweler. There's a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo I'll be simplifying for easy digestion.

GENUINE AMBER - 100,000 years or more

Amber is fossilized tree resin. It ranges from gold to brown. Amber looks a lot like amber colored glass -- either clear or creamy. It comes in a rough form, but when polished will be smooth.

It has more weight to it than young amber -- feeling more stoney and less plasticy. To get to this point, genuine amber must be at least 100,000 years old.

High quality amber is clear -- this is the Jurassic park style, minus the bug. Amber is more desirable with tree branches, bugs, spiders, etc. inside. The more clearly they are displayed, the higher the price for the piece. High quality amber (with or without bugs included) is a costly item.

HOW TO TELL:
1) If you put a match to genuine amber, it won't ignite

2) Amber has about 2-3 hardness.

YOUNG AMBER

http://www.etsy.com/listing/64222648/930-argentium-silver-earrings-amber

Often marketed as young amber, this stone is also ancient tree resin. It's almost amber, but not quite 100,000 years old - perhaps 10,000 or more years too young. Most jewelry artists (myself included) call this stone amber. In the technical sense, that statement is false. However, you can get a lot of the same great quality and color from young amber as you can from genuine.

Young amber is a cheaper alternative to genuine amber. Young amber is also very light, like plastic. It's great on earrings or other pieces where weight's an issue. Generally, you wouldn't want young amber in a ring... more on that in the how to tell section.

HOW TO TELL:
1) This experiment is fun. Light it on fire! Yes, I'm serious. Amber which hasn't fully fossilized will burn and give off a pine-y, tree-like scent. I suggest using a pair of pliers with a rubber grip, preferably outside & over concrete, stone, or some other none-flammable surface. The younger the amber, the hotter it will burn. All you need is a match or two -- please don't get creative.

2) Young amber was used by the Egyptians, Chinese, and other cultures as incense back in the day. Amber incense doesn't really smell like amber, though. Pretty exciting, right?

3) Young amber will become sticky in solvents like acetone and alcohol.

YOUNG AMBER + PLASTIC

If you've seen "amber" like the stuff pictured above, it's actually little pieces of young amber and plastic melted together. Some of the nicer pieces will have bugs suspended inside. They're not ancient ants, they're more like last weeks ants.

HOW TO TELL:
1) Any amber that looks like these two pieces, with little discs, rounds spots, or fractures

2) This amber may burn, depending on the plastic and age of the amber. However, there will not be a pine-y or tree-like scent. It will smell like burned plastic.

PLASTIC

I've seen some pretty authentic looking plastic pieces before. The main way to tell they're a fake is if they burn and smell like plastic, or you can see molding lines. :)


Last Thoughts:
There are many different kinds of amber on the market. Each kind has its own look, variations, and can be carved into a multitude of shapes.

Never be afraid to ask weird questions. I've walked up to a bead store owner before and asked, "Excuse me, have you ignited this amber before?" :)

If the amber has too much going on -- perfect color, lots of bugs, cheap -- it's probably a fake or some sort of plastic/amber concoction.

Always be polite. If the shopkeeper is selling plastic mixture as amber, they probably didn't intend to do so.