Buying Amber – How to Buy Genuine Amber – Gems

Amber is one of the most famous and most deceitful semi-precious stones, as much of the amber in the market is promoted as amber Natural, but it is fake artificial amber. Natural amber is a valuable and precious stone made from the resin of a tree that has been fossilized over tens of millions of years in the earth and subjected to high temperature and pressure. Amber is extracted from rocks or when washed ashore by the sea in what is known as Baltic amber.

Amber has been used in jewelry, medicine, perfume and magic since ancient times. Do not be surprised when you know that natural amber does not come in honey color only, as there are natural types in other colors, including yellow, black, red, pink, green and white.

appearance Natural amber

honey amber constitutes about

% of the total natural amber present as it can also appear orange Or brown according to the bubbles in it. This color is mainly manifested in Baltic amber.

Green amber is formed when green plants are part of the amber fossil formation and is extremely rare and therefore has a high price value.

Red amber is commonly called cherry amber, and it is very rare and valuable.

Blue amber is a very rare and expensive variety with a brownish-yellow coloration but when it is faced with light that contains ultraviolet rays such as sunlight, it produces a clear blue shade

 

Black amber is a dark red or brown color that forms when tree resin is mixed with soil or Any other dark inclusions.

in many Gem artisans often use various methods to improve the colour, clarity and durability of amber. Here are the methods used to do this: 

Dark amber with the presence of Small bubbles inside. Its prices are not high compared to other amber prices, so jewelry artisans increase the clarity of it by boiling it in linseed or rapeseed oil, where it is slowly heated in the oil until it boils, then the small bubbles fill with oil and disappear.

 

 

Since green and red amber are rare and precious species, jewelers change the amber color by applying black paste to the surface and then heating

The amber color is also modified by heat treatment and dyeing where Thus, the value of the stone and the apparent beauty are increased.

Some pieces of amber contain cracks and defects that are treated By filling it with copal, a type of tree resin.

Some amber is also coated with layers of dye. Usually to improve color.

Since the amber pieces are not always large stones, sellers melt the small pieces and shape them into larger pieces that have a more attractive appearance and are called pressed amber in jewelry stores.

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  • The improvement and treatment of amber stones by heat does not affect their price value, as well as dyeing to improve the color while dyeing to change The color from honey to a rarer color affects the value and price of the stone, as the price of natural blue amber cannot match the blue-dyed honey amber.

   

  How to buy amber jewelry

 

The most reliable test is the heat test, where amber burns but does not melt unlike cobalt and plastic. If you expose the amber to heat, note whether it will burn and give off white smoke, a pine smell or the smell of chemicals. As if it smells chemicals it is not original.

The correct way to buy original amber

The value of amber is determined primarily by its color, clarity, size, dimensions, purity, and whether it contains insects or prehistoric creatures. Date. Amber pieces containing fossilized insects from those ancient times are priceless.