Real amber ?

[Jonathan Raymond]

Hello everybody !

I bought these two pieces of amber on the internet.

Is it real amber ?

[Biotalker]

Looks fine. A somewhat disheveled roach!

[Yoda]

Yes -  looks like real Amber 

[Vopros]

It is impossible to say. I have read a story about British Museum of natural history that bought a Baltic amber with a fly. They wrote an article about that fly, how little flies change in 40 millions years. Guess what, the amber was real, the fly was a modern fly. Actually here is this story

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/blogs/diptera-blog/2012/12/21/piltdown-fly.html

[JBkansas]

3 hours ago, Vopros said:

It is impossible to say. I have read a story about British Museum of natural history that bought a Baltic amber with a fly. They wrote an article about that fly, how little flies change in 40 millions years. Guess what, the amber was real, the fly was a modern fly. Actually here is this story

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/blogs/diptera-blog/2012/12/21/piltdown-fly.html

Pretty impressive fraud for 1850.

[Biotalker]

Times have changed! There is so much burmite being mined and sold that a piece like this one will sell for very little money. It is a foolish forger indeed who would waste his/her time trying to install a common extant critter into the amber. Roaches, as today, were very abundant in northern Burma (Myanmar) 100mya.

[Vopros]

14 minutes ago, Biotalker said:

Times have changed! There is so much burmite being mined and sold that a piece like this one will sell for very little money. It is a foolish forger indeed who would waste his/her time trying to install a common extant critter into the amber. Roaches, as today, were very abundant in northern Burma (Myanmar) 100mya.

A few years ago, in 1997, I went to amber exhibit. They did have a few fakes displayed next to the real ones just to demonstrate that one cannot tell the difference. And do not forget about copal that is often sold as amber.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Vopros

[Randyw]

While it appears to be a nice piece of amber you can not tell from a picture. There is not much faking of low cost burmese amber anymore although there is some. Its mainly the higher costing stuff with rare inclusions. The prpblem is There is also copal being mined in myanmar and surroundings. If it was my piece i would run the usual amber tests. The easiest and most sure test is the one i use. Shine a U.V. Light on the piece. It should flouresce. If it does amber. If not then it’s copal.

heres an example of 3 pieces of burmese amber under regular and U.v. Light

[Jonathan Raymond]

On 14/04/2023 at 20:39, Biotalker said:

Les temps ont changé! Il y a tellement de burmite extraite et vendue qu'une pièce comme celle-ci se vendra pour très peu d'argent. C'est en effet un faussaire insensé qui perdrait son temps à essayer d'installer une créature commune existante dans l'ambre. Les cafards, comme aujourd'hui, étaient très abondants dans le nord de la Birmanie (Myanmar) 100mya.

I rubbed the amber and it smells of wood .

I think it's real amber.

I can't wait to receive my UV lamp to be sure.

 

 

 

On 14/04/2023 at 21:49, Randyw said:

Bien qu'il semble être un beau morceau d'ambre, vous ne pouvez pas le dire sur une photo. Il n'y a plus beaucoup de contrefaçon d'ambre birman à bas prix bien qu'il y en ait. C'est principalement le truc le plus cher avec des inclusions rares. Le problème est qu'il y a aussi du copal extrait au myanmar et dans les environs. Si c'était ma pièce, je ferais les tests d'ambre habituels. Le test le plus simple et le plus sûr est celui que j'utilise. Briller une lumière UV sur la pièce. Il devrait fleurir. Si c'est de l'ambre. Sinon c'est du copal.

voici un exemple de 3 morceaux d'ambre birman sous lumière régulière et Uv