Fossil Ant (prionomyrmex) in Baltic Amber and Fossil Spider in Dominican Amber. Real or Fake?

[Randyw]

Unfortunatly your picture wasnt clear enough to make anything out. The pictures you posted from the seller are more then high enough mag where you’d be able tospot the imperfections in glued or filled items. You would normally notice imperfection in the continuity of flow marks linear bubbles.. etc. i once inspected one where the plug of material they used to fill it after drilling and implacing the item didnt floresce like the amber. (They used copal) LOL!

in the baby food jar in my picture there are 121 pieces of burmese with insects in them that I’m working on polishing. Also Unfortunatly i don’t have any way to take good pictures of my pieces sigh….

[Randyw]

6 minutes ago, Top Trilo said:

Do you know why amber is fluorescent but copal isn't? Aren't they practically the same thing?

Yes and no. And thats where people get confused LOL! All amber is tree sap (of a certain kind) but not all tree sap is amber…. Copal becomes amber with age. It’s the amount that the resins change over time that makes the difference.

amber starts out as tree sap as it ages it looses volatile liguids such as oils,acids and alchohol and forms polymers. Until it forms an inert polymer. It’s this completly polymerized material that glows under blacklight. How long it takes depends on conditions. And yes it is possible to artificially age and harden copal to mimic amber. It involves an autoclave….