Fossils For Sale » Amber

Raw Amber

Fossils for Sale — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:27:01 +0000

Raw amber is amber in its natural raw form without any form of polishing processing or otherwise being adulterated. It is commonly used by people intending to produce amber jewellery or the like. To find out more about amber have a look at our article 'what is amber?', and to find out how to go about buying amber check out our amber buyers guide.

We have a wide range of raw amber available including Baltic amber and Dominican amber-please have a look at our current range!

Raw Natural Baltic 400g NO Holed Amber Loose stones
US $31.95

Natural true raw Baltic amber nekclace with bracelet therapeutic medical
US $15.50

Amber Baltic to 3cm LotRaw Rough 50g
US $12.99

100 natural raw genuine Baltic amber necklace and bracelet therapeutic
US $17.00

Tiny Rough Raw Baltic amber 50g to 05cm Lot
US $6.00

Lot of Butterscotch rough raw Baltic fossil amber stones10mm 25mm 1000g
US $800.00

Post from: Fossils For Sale

Raw Amber

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Insects in Amber – Amber Inclusions

Fossils for Sale — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:43:30 +0000

One of the most exciting finds is a piece of Amber with something trapped within it. Made famous by the film Jurassic Park insects in Amber are rare and fascinating survivors from the distant past. Properly called inclusions, many different things can become trapped in amber. How? Amber is fossilised tree resin so millions of years ago resin oozing from a tree could trap an insect in its sticky embrace. When the tree resin turns over millions of years into Amber, the insect becomes preserved for all time within the Amber. It is not just insects that can be found trapped in amber, but often plant material including rarely flowers and other small animals such as frogs and sometimes even larger insects. This is very rare however, and many of the examples of larger trapped creatures are in fact fake-have a look at our Amber buyer's guide for some tips to help you avoid these. The most obvious thing to watch for is a very obviously posed specimen trapped in a perfect shaped piece of Amber. In reality what you're most likely to find are flies trapped in irregular shaped pieces of Amber and trapped in such a way as it is obvious that they were struggling and not posing for the camera! Have a look at what is currently available on eBay which is a great source for Amber inclusions!

Genuine Baltic Amber Crystal Gem Mineral Fossil with Insect Inclusion 230 carat
US $9.98

Genuine Baltic Amber Crystal Gem Mineral Fossil with Insect Inclusion 290 carat
US $9.98

Genuine Baltic Amber Crystal Gem Mineral Fossil with Insect Inclusion 240 carat
US $9.98

Fossil Insect Ant Inclusion in Genuine Baltic Amber Pendant 925 Sterling Silver
US $22.99

1 Baltic amber stone with genuine fossils insect inclusion
US $14.00

Single Celled Organism Inclusion New Jersey Cretaceous Amber Microscope Slide
US $9.99

Post from: Fossils For Sale

Insects in Amber – Amber Inclusions

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Amber Buyer’s Guide

Fossils for Sale — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:19:17 +0000

Amber comes in many different shapes sizes and colours and can be very beautiful indeed. This quick article or Amber tutorial will give you an overview to enable you to make an educated buying decision. Amber comes in many colours apart from the traditional yellow, honey like colour. It can very in shade from nearly white through pale lemon yellow to a very dark brown or nearly black. Red or cherry amber also exists, as does blue and green coloured Amber, though this is very rare. Some pieces of Amber are transparent or nearly clear, but others are cloudy or completely opaque.

Amber is often described by the location of its origin the most common being Baltic amber and amber from the Dominican Republic. Baltic amber may also be referred to by its country of location, for example Lithuania or perhaps Polish amber. Some Amber, sometimes called Sunburst Amber, has inclusions frequently called sunspots which are small disc shaped shiny and glittery marks inside the Amber. In real amber these inclusions are very small in size and irregular in shape. it is of course also possible to find other inclusions in amber for example, insects in amber made famous by the movie Jurassic Park. Not only insects, but sometimes even small animals and flowers or plant material have been found but these are really quite rare.

So what else do you need to look out for when buying a number? Before we get on to the business of fake amber, there are a couple of things that you should be aware of when buying Amber. Firstly, Amber referred to as genuine or pressed Amber is actually a larger piece of Amber made out of small pieces that have been melted together under high pressure. Genuine amber will usually result in much more even shaped and larger pieces of Amber them would ever be found naturally. Not necessarily a problem, but nice to know what you are buying! It is also possible to fake sunburst amber, or rather the inclusions in the amber, by heating the amber in rapeseed oil. To tell the difference between real sunburst amber and this manufactured version have a look at the inclusions. In the real article inclusion is a very small and in regular in shape-in the fake they will tend to be much larger and more uniform in shape normally disc shaped or half round. Another thing to watch out for is being sold copal as Amber. Copal is much younger than Amber typically 10,000 years old or so. It is tree resin that is not yet undergone the full polymerisation process to harden sufficiently to be considered Amber. Read on for tests that can help you tell the difference. Finally, when buying jewellery that is claimed to be red and amber, green amber or blue amber, be aware that sometimes very light coloured amber is used with the rear of the amber coated with jeweller's colour paste or burnt to give it the appearance of being one of the more rare and expensive colours of Amber.

Sadly Amber is often faked, either as described previously or even through the use of plastic resins. The rare cases of insects in Amber also give the unscrupulous the temptation to fake these. So how can you tell when a piece of Amber is genuine? Here are some ideas for tests that you could carry out to help you confirm that your piece of Amber is the real deal!

1. Static test.

Real amber will become electrostatically charged when warm, so rub the piece of amber briskly against a natural fabric. if electrostatic charged, it will attract and pick up small pieces of paper.

2. Buoyancy test.

Real amber will float in seawater, so put your amber in a cup of water in which you have dissolved 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Amber should float, most fakes will sink.

3. The hot needle or burning test.

Heat a sewing needle or similar in a candle flame (taking care not to burn yourself-it will get hot!) and place the hot point of the needle somewhere on the Amber where it is not likely to be noticed. Amber were usually burn with a blackish smoke, copal with a whitish smoke, although sometimes Amber may also give off a whitish smoke. Plastic will give off black smoke. The real trick here is to note the smell given off. Plastic will burn with an unpleasant and acrid smell. Amber will probably give off a slight pine or resinous smell. Amber will also not melt unlike copal and plastic.

4. The acetone or nail varnish remover test.

Put a few drops of acetone (nail varnish remover) on the Amber. Real Amber will be unaffected by this whereas copal will become slightly sticky to the touch as it is not quite as hard as Amber. Most plastics will also become soft and tacky when treated with a solvent like this.

5. The fluorescence test.

Amber will fluoresce when an ultraviolet light is shone on it so if you have access to an ultraviolet light (sometimes called a black light) this is a simple way to tell if your piece of Amber is the real thing.

6. The sense test.

By this I mean just applying common sense. For example Amber is tree resin and so it is unlikely that you will find a genuine large piece of Amber several inches across. By the same token it is a natural material and again it is unlikely that you will find something perfectly shaped. Natural materials tend by their nature to be irregular. When looking at Amber inclusions such as insects in Amber think whether the insect looks posed or is it in the pose of an insect trapped and struggling to escape? An insect that looks like it is just posed a photograph is very unlikely to have been trapped naturally. Also when an insect is trapped it is quite common for other debris to be trapped at the same time. A single insect right in the middle of a perfect piece of Amber should ring the warning bells!

Genuine Baltic Amber Crystal Gem Mineral Fossil with Insect Inclusion 230 carat
US $9.98

Genuine Baltic Amber Crystal Gem Mineral Fossil with Insect Inclusion 290 carat
US $9.98

Genuine Baltic Amber Crystal Gem Mineral Fossil with Insect Inclusion 240 carat
US $9.98

Fossil Insect Ant Inclusion in Genuine Baltic Amber Pendant 925 Sterling Silver
US $22.99

1 Baltic amber stone with genuine fossils insect inclusion
US $14.00

Single Celled Organism Inclusion New Jersey Cretaceous Amber Microscope Slide
US $9.99

Post from: Fossils For Sale

Amber Buyer’s Guide

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What is Amber?

Fossils for Sale — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:39:52 +0000

Although it might not look like what is commonly thought of as a fossil, Amber is indeed a fossil. Much appreciated for its colour and beauty it is often treated as a gemstone and comes in a range of colours not just the classic amber colour. In fact it can range in colour from white through pale lemon yellow all the way up to Brown or even black. There are even more rare colours available such as red Amber (often called Cherry Amber) and even green and blue Amber. These other colours are rare and much sought-after. Amber itself can be completely transparent, cloudy or even opaque. Opaque amber is opaque because of the myriad of minute bubbles it contains.

So how does Amber form? What is it? As already mentioned Amber is a fossil. It is in fact fossil tree resin - not sap as it is often believed to be. Most genuine amber is between 30 and 90 million years old and usually comes from resin produced by coniferous trees although Amber can also be produced from resin secreted by deciduous trees such as the cherry or plum tree. Amber can also come from resin produced by eucalyptus trees and indeed many other types of tree. The resin is commonly secreted by the tree when it is under stress such as in periods of climate change. This resin becomes trapped and hardens over millions of years to form Amber. Younger resin is commonly referred to as copal, which looks very much like real amber but is not as yet changed sufficiently to become full Amber. Amber's chemical name is succcinite and the process by which it actually forms is a type of polymerisation of the natural organic compounds in the resin.

Where is Amber found?

The most common place to find Amber it is on the shores of the Baltic Sea or in the Dominican Republic although it is sometimes found in many other areas including washed up on the beaches of the east coast of the UK. Amber can be collected from these deposits washed upon the beaches but it can also be commercially mined. The Amber deposits of the Dominican Republic and the Baltic are believed to be the world's largest and hence most of the Amber used in jewellery comes from these sources. If you are lucky you may even be able to find a piece of Amber yourself on the seashore. For the rest of us there is always eBay! Have a look at our other articles about Amber including our very useful Amber buyer's guide-don't get caught out and end up buying fake amber.

Very RARE Very Large Violet BLUE Amber from Sumatra Island INDONESIA 498 g
US $15.50

12 Beetles Flies Ant Bryophyte Enhydros in BIG 359 g Colombian COPAL amber
US $7.52

5 Pieces of Dominican Amber with Variety of Insects
US $20.00

RARE Extinct Hymenaea Protera Flower Petal in Dominican Amber
US $.99

Ancient Fossil Insects 3 4 Insects Trapped in Baltic Amber Stone 40M Yrs
US $13.09

Genuine Baltic Amber Crystal Gem Mineral Fossil with Insect Inclusion 230 carat
US $9.98

Post from: Fossils For Sale

What is Amber?

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