Opinions on if this amber necklace is fake amber

[Hærfest Leah]

My mother sent me an amazon.com gift card for my birthday in October and so I used it to buy this amber necklace because I did not have one. Well it arrived yesterday and as soon as I started looking at it I swore the amber looked completely fake, not glass but the unmatured copal or even plastic and the supposed sterling silver beads do not feel like metal at all but lighter like it's just silver painted plastic although the silver attaching the larger amber pendant to the rest of the necklace does seem to be real silver.

Here is the exact item:
On Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000M4KD6K/ref=cm_cr_thx_view/104-1042086-3121547)


I got to reading yesterday some on identifying fake amber and have read these pages.

http://www.ambergallery.com/Is_it_real_amber_/is_it_real_amber_.html
http://www.florilegium.org/files/NORSE/amber-buying-art.html
http://www.ambericawest.com/real_amber.html

Now that I've had time thismorning I've been doing some of the tests (on different locations on the necklace) and this amber seems to be passing I think. My current nail polish remover does not have acetone in it so I did the alternate drop of alcohol and no changes like stickiness that copal or plastic can do. I did the hot needle and no was no melting or chemical smell but I can't tell if I got much of a resin smell either. One site said you can taste the amber and I got no chemical plastic taste either, just a very faint taste that I cannot make out. (I've never tasted amber before) I don't want to try the salt water floating test because I don't want to rust out what little actual silver their is on it.

The reason I thought this amber looked so fake is that I swear it looks like in one of the beads that there looks to be flecks of metalic paper in it. I cannot however see any lines on the outside of any of the pieces from them being molded or something. Additionally, although some of the beads look too flawless and smooth (the lighter shades of beads) , their are just as many that look a bit more rough (the darker shades) and two or so even have a black spot (burnt looking) on the outside. Some have lots of bubbles inside and some have very few.

I emailed the seller with my questions and they stated that all the amber is real, although they did not say what all kind it is supposed to be and that's my fault for not making sure before hand I know.

So what are your opinion?

[lightdragon]

from the info you have. I 'm almost positive it's the real deal.

[Wolfsong]

agree with lightdragon.. you might want to try the floatation test... and it's south american amber if it's real... either mexican or dominican but I'd lean towards mexican.

[Hærfest Leah]

Thanks for the replies, I forgot to add that in the medium to light colors I don't see any milky areas at all also, the beads are pretty much clear.

I also emailed the seller back and asked about the exact amber on the necklace, I'm waiting for his reply.

So I shouldn't be worried about the one that looks as if it has slips of metallic material in it, that's actually normal?

Ok I'll go ahead and do a quick flotation test and rinse it well after.

[Hærfest Leah]

.. you might want to try the floatation test... and it's south american amber if it's real... either mexican or dominican but I'd lean towards mexican.


It failed float test #1 so I upped the salinity and it failed again. But wouldn't any metal and plastic beads in the necklace cause it to fail? It's not like I'm just testing a tumbled stone with no attachements.

I found this page when searching for mexican amber and suprisingly a lot of the amber on this necklace looks exactly like what is shown in the examples under Baltic amber sadles and cylinders, especially the larger pendant..

http://www.organicjewelry.com/amber.html

[lightdragon]

It failed float test #1 so I upped the salinity and it failed again. But wouldn't any metal and plastic beads in the necklace cause it to fail? It's not like I'm just testing a tumbled stone with no attachements.

http://www.organicjewelry.com/amber.html
well metal will do that. And I believe that test is for amber alone whether it is polished or not. Also you have something called reconstituted amber. this is amber but it is melted and reshaped. often they add plastic or acrylic to it.

try rubbing one of them against wool. you should get some static if it is the real thing.

[Hærfest Leah]

I thought of that earlier but I'll have to dig out our sweaters from storage to find wool. Not like we are wearing any of them here.

[lamoka]

Hi.. I pulled out my amber and tried it on my sweater... 11% wool.. and got static.. I was pretty surprised when I got this piece as it looked and felt like plastic.. but learned that it is actually a petrified type of "stone" "crytstal".. looks very similar to what you have...
hope that helps..
aho

[Hærfest Leah]

Ok I broke out a sweater thats 80% lambs wool and 20% nylon. I was able to get (a small amount of static) enough static off different parts of the necklace to attract some tiny bits of paper.

The seller emailed me back thismorning and did not answer my question on the type of amber at all. It's going in my review.

Further testing on the beads that seemed plastic, it is cold to the lips and hard to the teeth so its definitely not plastic. It scratches easily.

I emailed the place from the 1st of the 3 links I listed earlier and a women has been giving me hre opinions. This is what she has had to say:


I know of no way to be 100% sure it's not reconstituted without eyeballing it myself. Putting it under a stereomicroscope I would be able to look for all the features that make it "real", such as the tiny bubbles, bits of plant and bug detritus (pollen, bug poop), flow planes, and oak pollen (seen only in Baltic amber). The price you paid sounds very reasonable to me, I don't think you got taken or anything. As for the types of amber in the necklace, I'd bet dollars to donuts it was predominantly or all Baltic. Baltic is the most abundant, and therefore the least expensive. That would be my educated guess on that.

Just a comment on the piece you say looks like it has "flecks of metallic paper" inside. The compressed air bubbles called sun spangles can sometimes give this illusion. Also, I have seen many amber pieces with pyrite crystals within the matrix. Pyrite is a form of iron, is metallic and kind of brassy looking in color. It's possible that you see either the spangles or crystals. Either way, it makes the piece prettier and when the sun hits it, there's a nice glint.

So I am done nitpicking the ever lovin snot out of this thing. My review of it is now posted here (http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000M4KD6K/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr/104-1042086-3121547?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1)

[Wolfsong]

I totally missed the part about "reconstituted amber"...sorry... yup what LD said... this is done a lot with the smaller pieces of amber found in the baltic which are not large enough to work with and also with "scraps" left over from larger pieces... basically they melt it and press it into amber nuggets which are then used in jewelry. The honey colored stuff is probably the reconstituted stuff from the baltic.. the bright stuff is the stuff I was referring to when it comes to south american... very little baltic amber reaches that color...pricing for amber usually gos from the low end.. yellow to the high end...red.. and everything in between. The honey colored stuff is usually considered high end average... the red stuff is uppermost high end and very expensive due to its rarity... commercially it is only found in Burma but small quantities are found in New Jersey from where good pieces are extremely expensive...

anyways.. the stuff most available and therefore most in demand is the baltic stuff which has a great honey color which seems to be favored by consumers.

There was a great Discovery Chanel Show called "amber" a few years ago which really gives good insite into amber from around the world and its different qualities as well as fakes and what to be aware of... if you are really curious about amber and want to know more about this show send me a PM.

[Cindlady2]

Could we have those links "stickied" so we have them for later reference?
It's good info. and I would hate to loose it when someone needs it!
Thanks! :)