Baltic amber and spinosaurus tooth.

[anastasis008]

So I recently got this Baltic amber and I found out that there is a test that includes water and salt and if the amber sinks then it's fake but if it floats, it's real and mine sank but I'm not sure could you please examine it yourself? And also the spino tooth if you can. Thanks

[DatFossilBoy]

The amber looks genuine, however the spino tooth does not.

Has a decent amount of resto on the root and the tip belonging to another tooth has been attached to the tooth.

Regards

[anastasis008]

1 minute ago, DatFossilBoy said:

The amber looks genuine, however the spino tooth does not.

Has a decent amount of resto on the root and the tip belonging to another tooth has been attached to the tooth.

Regards

yes but the spino tooth is not a replica right and also the amber are you sure it is real because it sank when i tested it with salt and water

thanks

[DatFossilBoy]

 

10 minutes ago, anastasis008 said:

yes but the spino tooth is not a replica right and also the amber are you sure it is real because it sank when i tested it with salt and water

thanks

The spino tooth has some resto/crack filling and is a composite but it’s not a replica.

Not sure about the amber. Other people will be able to tell  

Regards

[Randyw]

How much salt did you mix in with the water? If it’s not the correct ratio even real amber will sink. There’s actually a number of tests to determine if amber is real. I normally use either the salt and the rubbing test

 

[anastasis008]

2 minutes ago, Randyw said:

How much salt did you mix in with the water? If it’s not the correct ratio even real amber will sink.

i didnt measure it i mean i sure put a lot, could you please tell me where to put the water and approximately how much salt to pour ?

thank you

[Randyw]

2 cups of warm water with a 1/4 cup salt. Make sure all the salt is dissolved, there is also

 also a rubbing test. 

[Randyw]

There are 6 tests for amber although I prefer the smell, salt, and rubbing test. But unless you’ve smelled a lot of amber most people can’t do the smell. And the smell test is best reserved for non insect bearing amber

[Randyw]

And of course look closely at the amber. There are several people faking amber by dissolving a hole in real amber then adding a bug then refilling it. Normally this will leave a faint outline around the bug that you can sometimes make out with magnification 

 

[Randyw]

The tests are 

1)rubbing

2)salt water

3)feel,

4) u.v. Test

5) hot needle

6) smell. (Caution not for really nice pieces of amber!)

the first 4 do not damage the amber and are ones I recommend 

 

[connorp]

The amber is almost certainly real. Fake amber often has a near perfect bug inside with nothing else. However, your piece has plenty of debris in it as well. This is something that is rarely ever done with fake amber.

[Randyw]

Just now, connorp said:

The amber is almost certainly real. Fake amber often has a near perfect bug inside with nothing else. However, your piece has plenty of debris in it as well. This is something that is rarely ever done with fake amber.

Unless it’s copal wich is what I think the original poster is concerned about....

[Randyw]

Although looking at it I’m fairly confident it’s either amber or copal. I’m leaning towards amber but I’d want a see the results to the tests before committing 

[snolly50]

A brief discussion of copal vs amber determination.

 

 

[connorp]

2 hours ago, Randyw said:

Unless it’s copal wich is what I think the original poster is concerned about....

From what I gather, copal is subfossilized tree resin? Never heard of that before, interesting. Can’t comment on that aspect, but the “amber” certainly doesn’t appear to have had the bugs inserted.

[Randyw]

15 minutes ago, connorp said:

From what I gather, copal is subfossilized tree resin? Never heard of that before, interesting. Can’t comment on that aspect, but the “amber” certainly doesn’t appear to have had the bugs inserted.

Correct. Give it a few million years and it may make it to amber but currently it is just hard bug filled sap. Wich is why it reacts differently to feel, smell, hardness, salt, acetone and hot needle tests

[Randyw]

Think of it as the difference between a old dead crab buried in mud and a 60 million year old crab embedded in mudstone 

[Pemphix]

On ‎22‎.‎06‎.‎2019 at 11:14 PM, DatFossilBoy said:

 

The spino tooth has some resto/crack filling and is a composite but it’s not a replica.

...

Regards

Exact...