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i bought this piece a while ago, it was listed as "amber" but is actually copal. there are a lot of insects in the piece including an ant, some weird fly-like insects, another weird insect, some kind of roach, etc. it was quite hard, and was about NZ$7. i don't know what kind of copal it is and i am hoping someone may be able to shed some light on this.

today i found a virgin copal site, A.K.A i found another creek in the forest. this creek in particular was more ideal than others i had hunted in before because is had eroded more steeply. what i mean is that the creek bank was quite sheer in some places, which is perfect for finding kauri copal because your digging is done for you. this particular piece was spotted while i was getting into the creek to look for kauri copal, i saw it and gave it a slight kick with my gumboot (wellingtons for the non kiwis out there) and saw the copal underneath. after a good heave and tug to get it out of the mud it came free and i was astonished to see, after i had cleaned it off in the creek, that it had a piece of kauri bark attached to it, and on closer inspection, it also has a knot-like bark injury preserved too. i am going to be polishing off the copal in the weeks to come and when i am finally done with the sanding and polishing, i will post pictures too. <---- bark injury, this is on the inside of the bark. <---- outside of bark that is covered in the resin that seeped out of it thousands of years ago.

Ok, so a few of you have heard me rambling on about that Kauri gum i found a while ago but up until now i haven't got around to giving you pictures. well, here is a picture of a polished piece of the stuff. ~90% of the lump we found was milky and mostly opaque but there was a large pocket of clearer copal in one part, the piece in the picture is a piece of that pocket. i then polished it up with Brasso and a rag, and now it shines beautifully. me, and occasionally my friends, will be hunting for some more of the copal so you can expect to see more pictures in future. Insects, you ask? as of yet, i have not looked at it under the microscope.

hi, so me and my brother and my friend went into the small forest behind my house, and we were digging around in a muddy stream (the mud is very gloopy and your feet can sink in it a bit) , we found this MASSIVE stone (that's what we thought) it had something that looked like wood sticking out of it, although the wood's sides were straight and it looked like some kind of fence post. we smashed open the 'stone' with our spades and behold: a cream-coloured, hard, glass-like substance. it has a strong, almost chemical-like aroma, similar to the aroma of a root we split while digging. it was irregular in shape, and although the outside was covered in clay, the inside was hard and glass-like. however, it did not float. this may be becuase it was a freshwater stream. when hit really hard with the edge of a metal spade, it exhibits behaviur similar to that of amber bieng hit with the same thing. it has swirls of more opaque material, in the form of creamy oranges and yellows. please, if anyone can identify it, that would be a massive help. if you need a picture, wait a few hours or so and i may have found some more. i can't find the original hunk, but it was huge. sorry i do not have pictures of this, although i may have some soon, i am going out to look for some more.

i bought a piece of amber from a shop for $7 (NZ) and it was in a little tray with other pieces all called 'amber' and not specifically listed as having bugs in them. i tried the fingernail test and on one side it scratched a really tiny bit and on the other side barely at all. i think it was baltic becuase it was sold alongside gems. it has lots of insects inside and is irregular both outside and inside. is a little misty on one side, has an ant, some kind of fly larva, maybe a couple of midges, another fly. it was with other pieces with no inclusions. is it copal or amber?

Hi guys, ran into a snag again. I 've got an unpolished Copal from Taiwan. Unfortunately, I haven't actually heard of Taiwan having copal deposits, so I highly doubt its actually from there. Anyone's got any clue to where or what Copal I am looking at? Next up, two shark teeth from the Ambon Island of Indonesia. I feel the one from the left is from a mackeral shark, maybe even Sand Tiger. The one on the right I feel is a mako, or dusky shark. Unfortunately I am no expert and so I would appreciate input from any experts here. If it would help, the teeth on the left is thick and the right is rather flat. Thanks again.