A mber mber Value, Price, Price, and Jewelry Informaon
Amber, Balc Sea area (various cut gems and ulity ob jects). Photo Photo © Joel E. E. Arem, PhD, PhD, FGA. FGA. Used with permission. permission.
Amber Amber is the hardened resin of ancient pine trees. trees. This organic substance is perhaps most well known for the incredible inclusions of insects and plant ma can can be found within it. People have been making making jewelry from amber for over 10,000 years, which could make it the first gem material ever used. Our fasci with amber connues today. It's fairly common, easy to work, and a constant wonder to the eyes. Amber's most common colors are yellow, orange, orange, and br various shades. Pieces with green, blue, or violet nts due to extreme fluorescence are rare. Amber also has a wide range of transparency. The transparent transparent is used almost exclusively for jewelry. Amber is oen used for beads (tumble polished or faceted), pendants, earrings, and rings. The opaque material is fre carved into arsc ornaments and inlays and praccal objects such as pipe stems and umbrella handles. Amber is also burned as incense and used as an in in perfumes.
Amber Value The highest values go to those pieces with clearly visible insect inclusions, light colors, and clarity. Since the Jurassic Park movie, movie, the most popular inclusion mosquitos. Inclusions of plant material, while of great interest to sciensts, add lile to the value of jewelry. (These inclusions are oen too small to be rec easily). Very large large amber pieces are extremely rare. Good quality material is seldom used for anything b ut jewelry.
Amber, Dominican Republic (with insect inclusion). Photo © Joel E. Arem, PhD, FGA. Used with permission.
The Internaonal Gem Society (IGS) has a list of businesses offering gemstone appraisal services.
Amber Value via Gem Price Guide
Cabochons
All sizes
With insect inclusions
- per gram
Plain cabochons
- per gram
Prices may be higher for pieces with inclusions of rare insects. Faceted See the enre Gem Price Guide.
All sizes
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Amber Informaon DATA
VALUE
Name
Amber
Crystallography
Amorphous
Refracve Index
1.540-1.545, usually 1.540
Colors
Yellow, brown, whish yellow, reddish, cream color, orange shades. Rarely blue, greenish, violesh.
Luster
Greasy.
Fracture
Conchoidal
Hardness
2 - 2.5
Specific Gravity
1.05 to 1.096, usually 1.08.
Birefringence
None.
Cleavage
None
Dispersion
None
Heat Sensivity
Very
Luminescence
Yellow in SW (Texas); bluish white or greenish in LW. Balc amber may fluoresce grayish blue in SW. Inert in X-Rays. Sicilian amber is noted for its fluoresce
Wearability
Good
Transparency
Transparent to opaque.
Absorpon Spectrum
Not diagnosc.
Formula
Approximately C10H16O+ H2S. A mixture of hydrocarbons plus resins, succinic acid, and oils.
Pleochroism
None.
Etymology
From the Arabic anbar .
DATA
VALUE
Occurrence
In sedimentary deposits and on shorelines, due to waves and currents bringing material up from offshore beds.
Inclusions
See "Idenfying Characteriscs" below.
This piece from the Dominican Republic is over 30 million years old and contains over 20 ant inclusions. “Orange Amber Ants” by Michael Rhys is licensed under CC By 2.0
Comments Amber is an amorphous (non-crystalline) mixture of organic compounds, including hydrocarbons, resins, succinic acid, and oils. Most of this substance com the preserved resin of the pine specie s Pinus succinifera. However, other ancient tree species have also produced the material. Amber has been preserved f least 30 million years. Preserved resin younger than that is known as copal (which is also a term used for organic gem material from the copal tree). Althou is commonly referred to as fossilized resin, it’s not a fossil in the strictest sense. Most fossils begin when an animal or plant is buried in the earth. Over mill the organic material in fossils is slowly replaced with elements from the mineral kingdom. In contrast, amber’s organic elements haven’t been replaced. Inst resin has undergone a c hemical transformaon into a polymer, a natural plasc.
“Venus figure of carved amber (pendant) from Eastern Europe,” Neolithic period (around 10,200 to 4,500 BCE), by Lisby. Public Domain.
Amber is oen confused with copal. These are very similar materials with nearly idencal origins. The principal difference is age. Copal is just a few hundre thousand years old.
Pressed amber or ambroid is created by fusing smaller bits of amber under heat and great pressure. Amber soens at about 150° C and melts at 250-300 °
Variees Amber is classed into various types. The sea type is found undersea. The pit variety is dug up from the earth, especially from the Balc region. Other types clear, massive, fancy, cloudy, frothy, fay, and bone.
“Amber (resinite) (Balcs),” le piece is 2.7 cm across, right piece is 3.1 cm across, by James St. John is licensed under CC By 2.0
Idenfying Characteriscs Inclusions Amber is noted for its inclusions, which are chiefly insects, pollen, leaves, and other organic debris. These bits were trapped in the scky fluid that oozed fr living pine trees millions of years ago. These inclusions offer a remarkable view of life in those mes. In some of the finer specimens, whole termite colonie been trapped. The chambers of these structures, created with webbing, are sll visible. Nursery chambers sll contain egg sacks. Besides termites and mos many variees of beetles, spiders, mites, and other i nsects can be found. Somemes, a single piece can contain many kinds of these organic inclusions. Star spangles, flaened starburst shapes, are another type of inclusion. These internal fractures radiate from a central point and are caused by stress. Whil aracve, most are human induced. Hence, they don’t fetch the same value as a good-quality insect.
Amber Tesng Techniques Ancient techniques for idenfying amber are sll useful today. If rubbed vigorously on a piece of wool, the real deal will generate a stac charge strong en pick up a small piece of ash. When it’s warm enough, it also gives off a disncve, pleasant scent. These techniques may disnguish the genuine material fr plasc imitaons (and entertain inquisive children).
“Caribbean Green Amber,” Dominican Republic, by The Singularity is licensed under CC By 3.0
A specific gravity (SG) test can also help weed out the plasc imitaons. A handy homemade tesng liquid can be concocted by boiling water and adding a salt as you can dissolve in it. This will have a density of about 1.13. Amber, with a SG of 1.08, will float in this soluon. Most plascs will sink. However, a f plascs have a density as low as 1.05. Many can have a lower SG than amber if they have air bubbles inside. So, if your sample sinks, you can be sure it’s n amber. If it floats, you need to conduct more tests.
Destrucve Tests Amber and plasc can share many visual characteriscs. They can both have a refracve index (RI) of 1.540, so an RI reading is not definive. Therefore, th step is likely a hot point test. This is a destrucve test, but if conducted with care, it can leave no visible marks. First, find a place on your specimen where a mark would be as unobtrusi possible. (For example, on the boom, an edge, or an area with exisng scratches). Next, heat the p of a needle unl it glows red. Touch the selected spot enough to release a ny whiff of smoke. Now comes the hard part. Smell the smoke. If it’s genuine, it will smell like fine incense. If it’s plasc, it will smell c and offensive. (This is another reason to make your test on as small a scale as possible). Disnguishing amber from copal is difficult. They share the same RI, SG, and most other properes. Copal will fluoresce whiter. That is a j udgment call bas having seen a sufficient number of samples to recognize the difference. If you’re unable to make the disncon based on fluorescence, you’ll have to resort destrucve test. On an inconspicuous area of the specimen, place a drop of acetone. Let it sit for three seconds, then wipe it off. Copal will have the surfac damaged by the acetone. Amber will show lile or no change from the brief exposure. All destrucve tests should be conducted only by professional gemologists. Amber can be disnguished from ambroid with a microscope examinaon. Amber oen darkens with age to a fine red-brown color. Ambroid, however, ma white with age.
Synthecs Plasc and glass pieces are somemes used as simulants.
Enhancements Amber can be darkened by heang. If done properly, this also creates star spangles. Dyeing is a common treatment.
The celebrated Amber Room was originally constructed in the 18th century in the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg, Russia. The room was decorated with panels made from amber and backed with gold leaf. This “Eighth Wonder of The World” was looted during WWII and has disappeared. A reconstrucon project was begun in 1979 and completed in 2003. This is the reconstructed chamber in the Catherine Palace. “The Amber Room” by Dmitry Karyshev is licensed under CC By 2.0
Sources The Balc Sea Region, including Poland, Germany, and Russia : Most of the world’s amber comes from a region formerly known as East Prussia and now kn the Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian enclave. Sicily : Material may be opalescent blue or green. United Kingdom: rarely found Norway; Denmark; Romania Myanmar : brownish yellow and brown variees: also colorless, pale yellow, and orange. Lebanon: scarce, from very old deposits. Dominican Republic : Mined from sedimentary rocks. Yellow, orange, and red colors. This material oen contains well-preserved insects and somemes a strong blueish tone in reflected light. Chiapas, Southern Mexico : produces golden yellow material. Cedar Lake, Manitoba, Canada . Point Barrow, Alaska.
“Big Chunk of Cedar Lake Amber,” Manitoba Museum, Winnipeg, Canada, by Mike Beauregard is licensed under CC By 2.0
Stone Sizes Fragments are normally less than half a pound, but pieces weighing several pounds have been found.
Care Avoid rough handling, heat, and chemicals. Amber c an be parally dissolved by solvents, alcohol, etc. Never use mechanical cleaning systems. A damp clot warm-water detergent is recommended. Consult our jewelry cleaning guide and gemstone cleaning guide for more advice.
“Amber Tells The Past,” amber ring, by Chiara Cremaschi is licensed under CC By-ND 2.0
by Joel E. Arem, Ph.D., FGA, Donald Clark, CSM IMG
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