Natural amber doppelgangers
19:05:00So by now we know what amber is, how to recognize it, what kind of amber modification exist etc.
Let's see what else is there of natural origin that quite often "pretends" to be amber.
I will talk about two things today -- Copal and Kauri gum.
They are both tree resins, that have solidified or partly solidified with age.
The term copal describes resinous substances in an intermediate stage of polymerization and hardening between "gummier" resins and amber. The word copal is derived from the Nahuatl language word copalli, meaning "incense"(from Wikipedia).
Copal with inclusion (wikimedia commons) |
Copal was also found in East Africa (the common species there being Hymenaea verrucosa), initially feeding an Indian Ocean demand for incense. By the 18th century, Europeans found it to be a valuable ingredient in making a good woodvarnish.
Copal with inclusion (wikimedia commons) |
Kauri gum with inclusion (wikimedia) |
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Sterling silver cat amulet with amber (by DropOfAmber) |
Do not get fooled by pretty, translucent and cheap nuggets with inclusions -- most often it is copal. It tarnishes with time, cracks and dries out, loses its shine, whereas amber maintains it for a very very longtime -- it is several tens of millions years old already, so another hundred or so would not do anything to it.
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