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]]>The biggest problem with amber for collectors, is the great number of fakes in the marketplace. One of the most often substitutes for amber is copal, which is also a tree resin, but it is much younger, just less than million years old, which means it will get sticky when worked with or rubbed.
There is also other fake Amber around, which is simply Plastic. To distinguish Amber from synthetic fakes, pierce it with a hot needle; Amber will release pleasant pine tree odor and light smoke while substitutes will melt with unpleasant smell of plastics.
Continue reading in the next post
]]>It is also called "heated" and is created when small remnants of Amber are fused together using high heat source or pressure. Though this type of stone is sill amber, it will not perform for the health reasons or pricewise the same way original, natural and not heated Amber does. Because the original pieces of Amber have been compressed, the singular power of each piece is compromised. The price is lower and it also has a "manmade" type of shape.
The years of experience and intuition help me to select Amber, but to be on the safe side I always prefer to work with the raw unpolished stones and to go through all long process from polishing, buffing and drilling the finished look, which satisfies me.
In my jewelry I put Amber next to other materials, often with the rich textures. Because of that I often leave the stone semi-polished, keeping it's natural shape and look. In some my models the highly polished Amber would look too smooth and out of the place.
]]>Glass- is hard, cold, does nor scratch with metal and is fire-proof
Synthetic Resin- has particular man-made shape, often heavier than Amber and has smell of
plastic when heated /test it by the hot needle /
Celluloid- Lightly heavier, and has again this nasty plastic smell when tested with hot needle
Generally this smell is unavoidable when plastic /all above types, polystyrene, polyester/is
burned!
Rub the stone for few minutes using some pressure, if it not synthetic , it should emit light
balsamic smell of a pine tree.
Copal- the natural material, made from tree resin, with very similar look but not the same
characteristics and price. it’s not nearly as old as amber.
It is much younger, first of all. While Natural Baltic Amber id 35-45 mln years old, the age
of Copal is slightly older, than one million years. So Copal is much softer because it hasn't
had enough time to fossilize. It does not have Amber quality to use it in jewelry.
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