frankh8147 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Hello! I found this a while back around Big Brook Park in Monmouth County, New Jersey (not a place you would expect to find amber) and was wondering if that is what I have here. Also, I don't see any reason amber couldn't be here but have never found any in this location, so IF it is, could we looking at possible contamination or do you think it originated here. As always, all help is greatly appreciated! -Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misha Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Amber has been found in NJ but I do not believe this is amber. Try using salt water and see if it floats in it Amber has a fairly low density so it should sink in normal water but float in salt water. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 1 minute ago, Misha said: Try using salt water and see if it floats You have to dissolve as much salt in water as You can for this test. 1 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 This does not look like amber, it looks like a piece of a somewhat water-tumbled slag. Beside the float test, you could try to poke a very hot needle at it - what happens? And can you scratch the specimen easily with a knife blade? Franz Bernhard 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 36 minutes ago, Misha said: Amber has been found in NJ but I do not believe this is amber. Try using salt water and see if it floats in it Amber has a fairly low density so it should sink in normal water but float in salt water. 33 minutes ago, ynot said: You have to dissolve as much salt in water as You can for this test. It is light-weight but still sank, no matter how much salt I was dissolving. 32 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said: This does not look like amber, it looks like a piece of water-tumbled slag. Beside the float test, you could try to poke a very hot needle at it - what happens? And can you scratch the specimen easily with a knife blade? Franz Bernhard I tried to scratch it with a few different knives and nothing happened - not even a mark on it, actually, and I tried decently hard. I will try to get a needle (if necessary) to try that test too. I tried it with an old dental pick though and didn't really get, or smell, anything. Maybe a glass slag? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 amber from marine deposits (not common) can look like this but guess it has failed amber tests. The amber would have originated in a lignified log carried out to see and bored etc. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misha Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 16 minutes ago, frankh8147 said: I tried to scratch it with a few different knives and nothing happened - not even a mark on it, actually, and I tried decently hard. I will try to get a needle (if necessary) to try that test too. I tried it with an old dental pick though and didn't really get, or smell, anything Probably just some kind of non fossil stone or slag like Franz said. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 21 minutes ago, Misha said: Probably just some kind of non fossil stone or slag like Franz said. New Jersey has produced a lot of glass over the last few hundred years so slag tends to end up everywhere. Thanks for your help! -Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Jersey Devil Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 It is a stone. Maybe a silicate. “You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Thanks for the tests! Its too hard to be amber, yes. No hot needle test required. 1 hour ago, frankh8147 said: New Jersey has produced a lot of glass over the last few hundred years so slag tends to end up everywhere. Yes, most probably this is glass slag. Franz Bernhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 I suspect it's silica. Way too hard to be amber. If you tap it on your tooth and hear "tink tink" instead of "tok tok" that should clinch it as something like chert. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 It looks like the specimen might have borings in it. Maybe you have something similar to Gastrochaenolites or Teredolites. 1 " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronzviking Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 I was thinking Chalcedony which is a cryptocrystalline form of silica like Carl said. It has a waxy luster, and is semitransparent or translucent. I'm seeing some banding in the third and fourth photo. It can assume a wide range of colors, but those most commonly seen are white to gray, grayish-blue or a shade of brown ranging from pale to nearly black. The hole and pockets are unusual though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 35 minutes ago, Carl said: I suspect it's silica. Way too hard to be amber. If you tap it on your tooth and hear "tink tink" instead of "tok tok" that should clinch it as something like chert. I see what you mean by that and it does make a 'tink tink' sounds. When I originally picked it up, I thought is was a 'gnarly' looking piece of oyster Iike Pycondonte because it was close to an area which produces a lot of them. Do you think it could be silica shell replacement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Never heard of such a thing for the brooks and it doesn't retain any obvious Pycnodonte morphology. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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