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Giant Chunk of Amber?


gwbh

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A friend of mines father found this washed up on a beach many years ago. We think it may be amber but we are looking for confirmation. He has done a few basic tests and he thinks it is amber over copal. Has many insect and plant inclusions, and probably weighs over 20 lbs.

 

Anyone able to confirm this? Is there a way we can easily, definitively find out if this is amber?

 

Thanks

 

IMG_5218.JPGcoin pictured is a US quarter. 

 

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I would think something this large would be man made. A lot of pine products were made on the East Coast during the 1700s and 1800s. This could be a large chunk of rosin. Not sure why it would have insects and plants. 

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I've never seen the stuff, but I've read about places further north (New England I think) where they actually burned low quality amber like coal.

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Amber has a low density, so I wouldn't expect something that size to weigh over 20 lbs. Does it float in saturated salt water?

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The biggest chunk of Amber recorded was around 3kg, so I doubt that it is actually Amber. Maybe it is melted like Rockwood suggested. I think that it is amber attached to petrified wood.

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If it is indeed amber a piece that large would be significant. There are several posts on the Forum detailing "tests" for amber. In brief: Will it float in salt water? Is it impervious to acetone exposure? Does burning a small fragment produce an odor of pine? To my mind these are the major areas of concern - floats, doesn't get sticky, smells of pine.

Because it would be an uncommon find to come upon a piece that large, it would certainly be worth your time to look up more detail on these "tests" on the Forum. After performing them, if you are still feeling it is amber, a visit to the closest museum or university for a professional opinion would be worth the effort.  

 

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

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It does float, that is one of the basic tests he performed. He read somewhere that it will chip and copal will not or something along those lines.  I will tell him to try the acetone and needle test. I handled a small piece and it is not very dense material at all, very light. 

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13 hours ago, Antonasaurus said:

The biggest chunk of Amber recorded was around 3kg, so I doubt that it is actually Amber. Maybe it is melted like Rockwood suggested. I think that it is amber attached to petrified wood.

 

"According to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest piece of amber ever found weighs 33 pounds and 10 ounces. It is kept at the Natural History Museum in London"

 

http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat51/sub324/item1229.html

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I was informed that these big pieces of resin were used in ships. Sometimes I also found such big pieces on the Northsea shore. These pieces look a lot like amber and sometimes have inclusions as well (or what looks like it) but are way too big for amber. 

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1 hour ago, sjaak said:

I was informed that these big pieces of resin were used in ships. Sometimes I also found such big pieces on the Northsea shore. These pieces look a lot like amber and sometimes have inclusions as well (or what looks like it) but are way too big for amber. 

That's an excellent lead to rule out. If it is indeed "modern" resin it will pass the "amber tests," except the acetone trial. If it is resin, it will not be adequately polymerized to avoid becoming soft and sticky. True amber is impervious.  

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

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On 8/31/2016 at 7:24 PM, sjaak said:

I was informed that these big pieces of resin were used in ships. Sometimes I also found such big pieces on the Northsea shore. These pieces look a lot like amber and sometimes have inclusions as well (or what looks like it) but are way too big for amber. 

Interesting, what is the use of such resin?

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Pitch (which can be any type of tar, asphalt, or resin) was traditionally used to help caulk the seams of wooden sailing vessels. Pitch may also be used to waterproof wooden containers and in the making of torches. Pitch is still used on some 'classic' tall ships even today. 

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." -Robert Frost

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When I worked as a Park Ranger and I'd be alone out in the woods for 12-20 hours at a time, I'd often pull a piece of Pitch off of a Spruce tree to chew on - it really freshens up your breath nicely, and craves your hunger. Delicious! Just hold it in your mouth for a bit, and chew occasionally - not constantly like you would gum (or else it gets really sticky and will coat your teeth).

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." -Robert Frost

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38 minutes ago, RoadcutHannah said:

When I worked as a Park Ranger and I'd be alone out in the woods for 12-20 hours at a time, I'd often pull a piece of Pitch off of a Spruce tree to chew on - it really freshens up your breath nicely, and craves your hunger. Delicious! Just hold it in your mouth for a bit, and chew occasionally - not constantly like you would gum (or else it gets really sticky and will coat your teeth).

It is like the arabic gum we pulled of the apricot trees when i was a child.

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"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

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In fact, i didn't know you could do it with Spruce tree. But i have just remembered that we use sweets made with Spruce tree for healing the sore throat and that they are refreshings.

theme-celtique.png.bbc4d5765974b5daba0607d157eecfed.png.7c09081f292875c94595c562a862958c.png

"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

photo-thumb-12286.jpg.878620deab804c0e4e53f3eab4625b4c.jpg

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21 hours ago, fifbrindacier said:

It is like the arabic gum we pulled of the apricot trees when i was a child.

 

I use gum Arabic with paint a chemical and a large negative to make images using an early photographic process called gum bichromate http://www.johnbrewerphotography.com/gum-bichromate in my opinion the French were the best by far practioners of this process, my all time favourite being Robert Demachy. I've been thinking recently of making some images of fossils this way because, using the right method (there are several) and a quality black pigment they could resemble the early pen and ink drawings in early paleontological literature. The problem is it is in my opinion the hardest photographic process ever and I practice most of them. It can take several days to make one and then if you make a mistake right at the last minute it's heartbreaking. Still if it's easy a) it's not worth doing b ) everyone would be doing it and c) for me it gives it a sort of value :) 

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I didn't know it could have that use. What i know is that if you scrub a paper with a potatoe and put your hand on it for some minutes, you'll have a negative of your hand. I also know, if i remember well, is that the potatoe was used to colorise the films.

theme-celtique.png.bbc4d5765974b5daba0607d157eecfed.png.7c09081f292875c94595c562a862958c.png

"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

photo-thumb-12286.jpg.878620deab804c0e4e53f3eab4625b4c.jpg

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On 31/08/2016 at 0:24 PM, sjaak said:

I was informed that these big pieces of resin were used in ships. Sometimes I also found such big pieces on the Northsea shore. These pieces look a lot like amber and sometimes have inclusions as well (or what looks like it) but are way too big for amber. 

 

I think this is very likely. There is a massive specimen in the Swedish Amber Museum which has a very similar appearance, shame we were unable to take photos.

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16 hours ago, fifbrindacier said:

I didn't know it could have that use. What i know is that if you scrub a paper with a potatoe and put your hand on it for some minutes, you'll have a negative of your hand. I also know, if i remember well, is that the potatoe was used to colorise the films.

 

I didn't know about scrubbing a potato, I'll show that to Violet (my avatar).

 

Youre right potato starch grains were used in early colour photography. They were dyed different colours and randomly layered with a black and white film. This gave coloured slides/transparencies. It was the first practical method of colour photography and invented by your fellow countrymen, the Lumiére brothers. It was called the autochrome. 

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