How do I know if my Baltic amber is real?

Real amber has air bubbles, and if clear enough to let light pass, you'll see imperfections within the bead, cracks, etc. Real amber is warm to the touch and has a slight 'tacky' feel (verses slick like glass). It also feels lighter in your hands than you would expect it to.

How do you test a Baltic amber necklace?

All you have to do is mix two cups of warm water with a quarter cup of salt in a bowl, then stir the mixture until the salt has completely dissolved. Once you have done this, place the piece of amber in the solution. If the piece of amber floats then it is indeed authentic amber.

Does real amber float or sink in water?

Real Amber should float in this water easily while majority of fakes will sink fast. The main drawback of this method is that it is not very suitable for testing Jewelry that has some metal or other components in it; however it works well for loose beads.

What does real amber look like?

Amber has existed for millions of years and is made from the resin of pine trees and, as its name would suggest, appears deep yellow. Real amber is warm to the touch and has a wax-like shine to it -- it will not appear as a glossy shine.

Does Baltic amber float?

In salty water true Baltic amber will float, while in fresh beads will sink to bottom. Can be used to distinguish between real amber and fake materials. Real amber is a conductor of heat. The test involves inserting a hot needle slowly into a discreet area of your amber stone.

Real/Fake Amber: 6 tests for identifying

How do you tell real amber from glass?

Simply take a hot needle and press it gently against the amber stone. Baltic amber is usually quite fragile. If you were to insert the needle into a plastic stone, then melting would occur. If you have a real amber stone in your presence, then the needle will show signs of cracking the object.

How can you tell real amber from plastic?

If you insert a hot needle into a plastic object, it will melt, however, if the object is made of real amber it will begin to crack. However, to distinguish the piece from other materials, make sure to smell the piece you have, and if it smells of pine-tree resin, it is probably genuine amber.

Does real amber glow under black light?

UV or Black Light Test:

Real amber will fluoresce under UV light. The amount of fluorescence varies from piece to piece. In a dark space, shine a UV black light on the samples in question, and if it is authentic amber it will fluoresce a bright blue or yellow green.

Does amber glow under a blacklight?

Generally, real amber glows evenly and in brighter green and blue colors. Real amber glows under UV light.

What does Baltic amber smell like?

When heated real Baltic amber smell has specific delicate fragrance of pine-tree resins. Heated falsifications of copal have a smell of “sweet” resins and those using other materials smell like a burning plastic.

How do you judge the quality of amber?

Probably the most reliable test is the burn test. Amber burns but does not melt, unlike copal and plastic. You may not want to do this to your amber jewelry but if you touch a red-hot needle to amber, watch to see if it burns, releasing white smoke and pine fragrance. If it does so, it is genuine amber.

How do you evaluate amber?

Like all gemstones, Amber is valued by its color, clarity, and the size of the nugget, with a higher value placed on transparent nuggets that have insect or plant inclusions, and for the more desired colors within the natural Amber color range. Baltic Amber is generally more expensive than Dominican Amber.

What is the difference between amber and Baltic amber?

Contrary to popular belief, amber is not a rock or gemstone. Amber is actually fossilized tree resin and can be found in many regions throughout the world. Baltic amber is specifically amber from the area near the Baltic Sea, including areas in Poland, Lithuania, Germany, and Latvia, just to name a few.

What is the rarest color of amber?

Blue amber is the rarest of all the colors of amber. However, blue amber is fairly new to the gem industry. It must be caught in the right light, or it will look like every other piece of yellow-brown amber.

Is Baltic amber rare?

Baltic amber is rare and precious. And with good reason. Kings and Scientists have been seekers of its amazing power and lured by its natural beauty for centuries.

Is Baltic amber blue?

Blue Baltic Amber is very rare too. It is captivating to anyone who beholds it. Most frequently blue shade is found in white Amber. Blue Baltic Amber formed when resin floated by the rivers to the peninsula of Sambia and it got into soil saturated by pyrites (FeS2).

Is amber worth any money?

Amber prices can range from $20 to $40,000 or more.

How can you tell the difference between amber and Copal?

"Copal" (which is pretty much a euphemism for dried tree resin) will get sticky where the drop of solvent sits; amber will stay hard and not feel sticky.

Does amber have air bubbles?

Real amber has air bubbles, and if clear enough to let light pass, you'll see imperfections within the bead, cracks, etc. Real amber is warm to the touch and has a slight 'tacky' feel (verses slick like glass). It also feels lighter in your hands than you would expect it to.

Is cherry amber real amber?

There are other materials on the market that are called red, or cherry amber, which are not amber at all, but are imitations or 'simulants'. As red amber has always been sought after, it has been imitated in less expensive materials, notably early plastics.

Is all amber old?

While some experts maintain that only material that is several million years old or older is sufficiently cross-linked and polymerized to be classified as amber, others opt for a date as recent as forty thousand years before the present. Much depends on the soil conditions of the resin's burial.

What color amber is best?

In general, the most valuable color of amber is rich yellow of medium to strong darkness. Red pieces are also considered of high value. The most important quality that determines the value of amber's color is its intensity.

Can amber go in water?

Many wearers of Amber jewelry also frequently ask if they can wear it in the water. Amber itself can be in water and it won't get damaged. However, many Amber jewelry pieces are made with a string, clasps from other materials or it contains other gemstones.

Can amber be melted?

Amber becomes soft at 150 degrees celsius and melts around 300 degrees celsius. However, rather than "melting" its actually decomposing.