Show Your Amber, Copal And Coal Collection!

[Iskandar]

There not many site shows amber, copal and coal. I love to see other peoples collections perhaps you guys curious too.

Now,I will be the to put the picture;

SABAH AMBER (BRITTLE TYPE BORNEO AMBER)

FORMATION: Tanjong fm.

WHERE FOUND: Oxisols alluvium excavation

AGE: Miocene

LOCATION: SABAH, MALAYSIA

CLASS: II (Fossil Dammar)similar properties to Arkansas Amber

[Terry Dactyll]

IsKandar....... what a rich colour your amber is.... thanks for sharing these...

[FF7_Yuffie]

They look great. I love the middle one

[FossilForKids]

I'm new to amber. I just started a couple months ago after I became ill. I buy raw amber and polish it myself. I am just learning the trade. The following photos are inclusions from amber I bought from Lithuania (sp). I use an old Microscope and a cheap camera so forgive the quality.

John

[tracer]

looks good to me.

[Auspex]

The subtle banding in the first specimen is lovely

[fig rocks]

I love amber and you've got some beautiful specimens! Makes me want to go out and get a microscope, I've got a flower in one of mine that I'd really like to show.

[Nicholas]

Unfortunately I lost my information on this specimen. It is a very small piece that is a micro view of it.

Triassic Amber(I believe) with an insect leg unidentified.

My catalog was destroyed so I lost the info on this piece.

[Iskandar]

That's easy, it is a New Jersey Amber with insect's leg. A leg belong to 94 million years old insect. Gemmy transparent New Jersey Amber is usually small and the large one usually opaque and brittle.

Do you know that most location have amber? Some are large and some are small but it is in small percentage. You can find it in the coal, on the beach or under the earth. Coal/lignite deposit is the best location to find fossil resin (amber/copal-like resin). Some were being so small which are 5mm, 4mm, 3mm, 1mm or less ('microamber'), if we found the 'microamber' in the coal we called its resinite. My suggestion, to find resinite in coal, I will using UV lamp to search for the small fluorescent dots.

Edited October 8, 2009 by Iskandar

[Iskandar]

Arkansas Amber

Found: Acme Clay Pit, Hot Spring Co,.Malvern, Arkansas, USA

Geological Strata: Claiborne Formation

Strata Age: Mid Lutetian/Eocene (which approx.44-49Ma)--perhaps someone expert can fix the correct age---

Classification: Class II Fossil Resin -- similar to those Borneo Amber.

Raw 12g Arkansas Amber

Polished oval cabochon Arkansas Amber

Polished cabochon sub-transparent Arkansas Amber

Wow they are really brittle and easily crumble. I must cut with extremely cautious. By removing the outer bark-like layer, the amber can be cut and polish. I have found a tick inclusion but not take the photograph at this recent time

[FossilForKids]

I love amber and you've got some beautiful specimens! Makes me want to go out and get a microscope, I've got a flower in one of mine that I'd really like to show.

Hey Fig

I take amber photos all the time and if it's a good enough pic I can posterize it. Send it register mail and we can " get er done".

John

[fig rocks]

Hey Fig

I take amber photos all the time and if it's a good enough pic I can posterize it. Send it register mail and we can " get er done".

John

Thank's John! I'll take you up on that. PM me your address and how much.

[PaleoRon]

Colombian copal. I call this one "The Zoo". It is the largest bug packed piece that I have ever had.

Edited May 22, 2010 by PaleoRon

[Soenke]

Hi,

I want to contribute a photo of a collection me and my parents made on the danish island Fanoe in 2008.

We found a lot of peaces, but all of them are very little (the greates about only one inch). But we enjoyed the searching time...

To my knowledge the baltic amber is of eocene age (ca. 40-54 million years old).

Best regards

Sönke

[Plantguy]

Iskandar, Thanks for the thread. You all have some pretty nice specimens--its neat to see the fine details of those little inclusions/insects--definitely challenging to photograph. PaleoRon, wow, the zoo---didnt realize pieces got that big. What a mass of insects and stuff!

I have several very small items to share, although these are a little blurry---unfortunately alot of my photos turn out that way! After I've taken 2 to 5 different shots of the same specimen that arent really good I usually retire my eyes and go with the best one.

I'm not so sure about the location/ID info as there is some confusion with the labeling on the last 3 but here's what I have below. The last specimen is definitely in a darker orange/reddish colored amber.

Ant from Kaliningrad Russia, Eocene.

Fungus Gnat and Winged Ant Baltic? Amber, Eocene?--specific location not known.

Ants, Dominican Republic?, Oligocene?

Regards, Chris

[Iskandar]

Plantguy

Easy way to distinguish between is by looking the oak stellate inclusion in the amber. Usually Baltic amber have oak stellate inclusion while Dominican amber doesn't have it...colors cannot be used as the way for distinguished between amber. Some are very similar color to Baltic.

The darker orange amber (usually) 15-20Ma Miocene Dominican amber.

Soenke

great finding!! Found any inclusions too?

PaleoRon

WOow very vividly color copal!! The inclusions are awesome too. Until now we do not know the exact geological age of the Colombian copal because no western scientist ever visit the mine in Colombia. Also we do not know the exact pin point of the mine.

[PaleoRon]

"PaleoRon

WOow very vividly color copal!! The inclusions are awesome too. Until now we do not know the exact geological age of the Colombian copal because no western scientist ever visit the mine in Colombia. Also we do not know the exact pin point of the mine."

I have a Colombian friend who's father is a general in the Colombian military. I asked him to find out more info on the area and accessibility to go there to collect specimens. After a couple of weeks the answer I got back was that the copal area is in the middle of the rebel territory and that even the Colombian army didn't go there. Another one of my trips that didn't happen.

I've heard estimates on the age that run from 20 thousand years to 5 million. Maybe one day we'll get a valid age on the deposits.

[Iskandar]

MADAGASCAR COPAL with swarms of insects

Hymenaea verrucosa is the parent tree for this resin. Most East African Copal share this parent tree. Some of them are less than 100 years old and some are up to 2 million years old. The oldest East African Copal is Zanzibar copal, between 100,000 to 2,000,000 years old (Pleistocene). Madagascar and Kenyan copal believed much younger than the Zanzibar copal. From my experience, if the copal deposited in the same type of sediment and came from the similar type of tree. Pleistocene or Pliocene copal much more resistant to solvent than the recent one. Recent copal will 'melted' by the acetone or pure alcohol while Pleistocene and Pliocene copal less affected by the solvents(just white residue that can be wipe with the clean cloth without making the tacky 'crater'). Miocene age Hymenaea fossil resin (Dominican amber) will not affected at all by acetone.

The solvent test is very useful to guesstimate the relative age of East African-type copal. Cannot be used for resin originated from other tree for example agathis tree(the Kauri gum is extremely old, 29,000 years old (C-14) and still easily melted with acetone)

Edited May 25, 2010 by Iskandar

[Sharks of SC]

Colombian copal. I call this one "The Zoo". It is the largest bug packed piece that I have ever had.

That is an AMAZING piece!

[Northern Sharks]

Here are a few of mine, more in my gallery

Edited May 26, 2010 by Northern Sharks

[Iskandar]

Thanks for posting the pictures here. Hope this thread in this forum will be useful for our references.

[barefootgirl]

thanks for sharing all of those you guys. Amber is still one of my favs and I never tire of looking at it.

[JimB88]

I guess I'll be the first to post coal. These are wood impressions in coal - the first two are casts of the impression made with pyritic shale. The third is the actual mold in the coal.

[Iskandar]

Great! The first time I see wood impression pyritic shale. Very shiny. While most lignite made of crumbly unrecognized materials you have found and shared to us that some coal have the interesting fossil impression.

[JimB88]

Great! The first time I see wood impression pyritic shale. Very shiny. While most lignite made of crumbly unrecognized materials you have found and shared to us that some coal have the interesting fossil impression.

Yeah the coal was very brittle. The pyritic shale had coal above and below it, I removed the coal from one side - revealing wood texture preserved in a golden hue. Unfortunately the pyrite is turning white for some reason. The coal also has plant fragments preserved in a rust colored mineral (limonite?)