All About the Amber Gemstone

Made of hydrocarbon, amber is little more than fossilized tree resin. Since this substance is really the preserved remains of a plant, it is not technically a gemstone that is mined. Yet due to its hardness and supreme durability, the material has earned an honorary place among the gemstones currently used for jewelry making.

There are generally considered to be two or three different strains of amber that are suitable for the jewelry trade. Baltic amber is associated with the fossilized resin of the Japanese umbrella pine or other sciadopityaceae. Another strain comes from the araucariaceae family, which includes a variety of conifers. When dealing with American or African amber, you most likely find resin coming from the fabaceae group that includes a variety of evergreen tall trees and mid-sized shrubs. Dominican amber comes from Santiago in the Dominican Republic. It is purplish blue and exceedingly rare.

Typically, amber comes in a deep orange, light brown or pale yellow coloring. When worked for a setting, it is polished to a high gloss. What sets apart amber from typical gemstones is the willingness of the buyer to accept inclusions. While in diamonds even minute inclusions drop the price, they tend to raise the price for amber jewelry – for the right buyer.

Usually inclusions consist of bubbles containing oxygen dating back millions of years. Other times, these inclusions feature tiny insects that were caught in the resin when it was wet and sticky. These, too, are millions of years old. Some jewelry makers have turned amberized insects in beautiful pendants.

Yet not everything that is sold as amber actually deserves this name. For example, black amber features a distinctive bluish coloration that some buyers love. Unfortunately, it is really one of the many varieties of jet, which is a mineraloid that came about when wood decayed under pressure. At other times, kauri gum has been sold as amber. It is even possible to artificially make a substance that looks a lot like amber.

When combining camphor, nitrocellulose and orange dyes, you create celluloid compounds, which can be shaped to look like the coveted tree resin. Occasionally, someone will try to sell copal as amber. Although copal is indeed tree resin, it is not nearly as old as amber. As a result, it is rather inexpensive.

Buying your amber jewelry or loose pieces from a reputable and knowledgeable jeweler is your best option. The makers of fake amber jewelry have gotten so good at imitating the real thing that you may have to damage your amber pendant to determine if it is real. Dealing with an erudite jeweler makes this step unnecessary.

At Peter Suchy Jewelers we are experts at gemologist and are GIA Certified. We invite you to stop by our showroom located at 1137 High Ridge Road in Stamford Connecticut to see our lineup of estate, vintage and antique jewelry.

Or, if you enjoy shopping for vintage jewelry online, head on over to our eBay store. We hope you’ll like us on Facebook and check out our amazing Pinterest Boards.