Stuff of Nightmares

[DevonianDigger]

So a little while back I had the fun of coming into a bunch of Baltic amber with inclusions. I pretty much just looked at the bag of pieces and said, "Wow, that's pretty neat!" Then I promptly set them down on one of my display cases ...and proceeded to forget almost entirely about their existence. Tonight my son and I decided to bust out our cheap-o USB microscope to see just what kind of inclusions we had. The photo quality is abysmal to say the least, but one series of photos we took contains what I am entirely convinced is not only the stuff of nightmares, but also must be nothing other than the larval form of Cthulhu. 

 

I am posting this in the ID section not because I expect someone to be able to ID it, but rather in the off chance that someone might just happen to know what it is. ID or not, I will go to sleep at night knowing that this critter is locked safely away in amber, and is thus not capable of feasting on my fluids while I slumber.

 

[Darktooth]

Interesting! What is the size off this critter?

[ynot]

Looks like a small beetle.

Nice, but You need a better polish on the piece to get better pictures.

[DevonianDigger]

18 minutes ago, Darktooth said:

Interesting! What is the size off this critter?

 

~1-1.5mm - very tiny.

 

1 minute ago, ynot said:

Looks like a small beetle.

Nice, but You need a better polish on the piece to get better pictures.

 

Definitely agree on the beetle part, also agree on the polish. These are my first amber pieces, any recommendations on how to best accomplish that?

[ynot]

1 minute ago, DevonianDigger said:

any recommendations on how to best accomplish that?

I have not worked with amber personally.

I know it is soft (grinds away quickly) and susceptible to heat (too much friction.).

That being said, You can hand sand it (start with an 600 grit) to a very fine grit (3,000+ the finner You go the better the view into the piece) with wet/dry paper and buff.

 

There are a few threads on TFF that have talked about how others polished amber/copal that may help You.

[Darktooth]

Last month at my local Rock club meeting we had a guest speaker who specializes in amber. It is the only thing he collects. He claims to own 250, 000 pieces.  Some of these worth thousands of dollars. He brought some in to show that contained spiders, scorpions termites, feathers, and assorted other goodies. It was one of the best presentations that I have heard in a very long time. He did talk about polishing it but I don't remember everything he said. But some of what Tony said I do remember being told to us. Hand polish ,don't not use any machine, especially with no experience with this material. And you want to make sure of the depth of this critter. We were told stories of overpolishing that ended with the result of destroying the subject matter!

[MeargleSchmeargl]

3 hours ago, DevonianDigger said:

larval form of Cthulhu. 

Praise be to our Lord and savior Cthulu!

[hemipristis]

4 hours ago, DevonianDigger said:

 

~1-1.5mm - very tiny.

 

 

Definitely agree on the beetle part, also agree on the polish. These are my first amber pieces, any recommendations on how to best accomplish that?

 

I have had great luck with toothpaste. Not the gel kind, but the white paste.

[Tidgy's Dad]

It is the larval form of Cthulhu. 

Do not polish this or it may awaken. 

ph'nglui mglw'nafh Jay Cthulhu a'mbr wgah'nagl fhtagn! 

"In Jay's house, sunken in amber, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." 

[Troodon]

Lots of online sites on polishing amber, looks like it can easily be done

 

http://www.ambericawest.com/working/

 

http://www.amberpieces.com/how-to-process-and-polish-baltic-amber.html

[bcfossilcollector]

I will consult my copy of the Necronomicon for a possible identification    Nice piece!

[GeschWhat]

I have used toothpaste (Ultrabrite) to polish copal but haven't tried it on amber. It is a slow process, but it worked.

[abyssunder]

Almost looks like a flea.