Jewelry with amber, dating back to Soviet times, does not lose its relevance - many women, especially those of mature age, prefer it to them. However, very often shoppers become victims of scammers. As a rule, in foreign trips, the purchase of natural stone results in the acquisition of a fake.
Stone description
Natural amber looks like a stone, painted in a mixture of yellow and orange, and having an amorphous structure instead of the traditional crystalline. Natural material weighs little, so jewelry with it is especially appreciated for its lightness and ease of wearing, despite the apparent massiveness. Most of the production of natural amber is carried out in the west of Kaliningrad, as well as in the Baltic territory. They go to the Dominican Republic for a unique variety of stones - a blue hue.
In general, despite the fact that amber is usually associated with yellow-orange color, there are variations of other shades: brown, black, red and green.
The saturation of colors and transparency depend on the bubbles inside, the number and location of which can also be different. Naturally modified versions are also valued on the market, inside which insects, plant elements or gray pyrite are placed.
The main ways to fake
The methods for faking natural amber differ depending on which artificial material is used for this. Most often, a fake stone is created from resin, which is much softer and lighter than natural amber. Of course, they fake a stone using plastic and glass, which is important in the manufacture of cheap jewelry. We must not forget about pressed amber - a special gem formed under the press.
To create it, use scraps and residues, as well as dust remaining after processing large pieces.
Pressed amber in quality almost matches the natural pattern. Having examined it, you can find a large number of small bubbles, as well as a rather saturated and opaque color. Color, however, will be uneven. Kopal is also popular - a young formation from the resinous secretions of the needles of tropical trees. It is difficult to distinguish it from a real stone, except perhaps heating. When exposed to fire, the stone will produce a not very pleasant smell of drugs, while natural amber smells much better.
Kopal is easy to melt, soft and tough.
If we return to the resin, then creating an imitation makes it possible both epoxy resin and kauri resin. An epoxy product is obtained by conducting chemical experiments. If you lightly warm it or rub it with a cloth, then a characteristic cutting smell will immediately appear. Resin kauri is an oleoresin of trees from New Zealand, which is often used in the manufacture of furniture.
The kauri resin looks almost uniform and without any impurities.
Plastic is often sold as amber, but it is easiest to distinguish from a natural product. It is enough to carefully examine the jewelry, and if a pure shade and a homogeneous structure are found, then this is most likely a fake.
Glass is much more dense than amber, so it is easy to identify such a fake by weighing.
How to determine the authenticity of the store?
Of course, right in the store it is quite difficult to recognize whether the mineral is natural or fake. However, it will turn out to find out some important details with a careful examination. The color of amber is not too bright, in contrast to the saturated colors of artificial materials. The structure of the stone is heterogeneous, you can notice bubbles and some inserts with the naked eye. Nevertheless, the presence of unnatural "spangles" indicates a fake.
It is important to remember that the density of the mineral is not high enough. The stone looks massive, but in fact it is completely not heavy.
The same fake with large sizes will weigh enough. Natural amber is quite warm, unlike other materials used to create fakes. Finally, the quality of the fake always seems to be ideal, because it is evenly and symmetrically colored, but this is what speaks of a fake purchase.
If an unusual form of a mineral is acquired with insects or plant elements frozen inside, then the light pebble should be carefully studied, since they are often faked. All third-party objects should be in a free and natural position. In the case of insects, this should remind them that they were trying to free themselves.
Going to the store, it should be remembered that not only individual pebbles are forged, but also large products, and sometimes even a certain part.
The price tag for fake amber is always set high. Naturally, not all methods of checking stone are available within the store. Nevertheless, you can ask the seller to help - to demonstrate the reaction of the decoration to ultraviolet rays, to provide fabric material for checking electrification. Moreover, if this is a reliable store, then qualified staff will go forward and tell you in what ways it is possible to verify the purchase for authenticity.
How to check at home?
Of course, the easiest way is to contact a specialist who will definitely be able to distinguish a real stone from a fake, using special tools. Nevertheless, even at home, most likely, it will be possible to find out whether they were deceived in the store. The first thing you will have to read about amber itself is to find out what the original looks like, how it is characterized, how it behaves in various situations.
Further, the verification itself should be carried out, and in several ways.
You can distinguish fake by weight. Amber is quite light, regardless of size. Even large and visually massive beads are unlikely to exceed 80 grams in weight. Therefore, it is immediately worth considering if the jewelry purchased is too heavy. If organic raw materials are used for further transformation, for example, a stone will be inserted into the base for a pendant, it makes sense to think about a scratch test. When exposed to a razor or knife, a natural gem immediately crumbles, almost to a powder, while plastic turns into shavings.
If the fake is made of glass, then the consequences of the test may not appear at all on it.
One of the most effective methods is checking in salt water. Since the weight of the material is too small, the stone does not sink, but continues to remain on the surface. Unfortunately, this method is appropriate for testing crystals without any base or decorative elements. In the situation with beads, it may happen that the beads remain in the middle of the vessel without moving in any direction. In this case, you should disconnect the beads and see what happens next. Most likely, some of them will go to the bottom, and some will pop up, which indicates that the beads are of poor quality.
To create a salt solution, it will be enough to use an ordinary glass of heated water and 3 teaspoons of salt. It is relatively simple to check the state of amber by rubbing it on a natural rag, for example, silk or wool.
At the same time, a real stone receives a negative charge and the ability to attract small pieces of paper to itself.
Using some more complex verification methods, for example, requiring the use of chemicals, it is important to ensure that the destructive effect does not exceed 3 seconds in duration. Otherwise, the stone will become covered with spots or change its beautiful color. In this case, we are talking about alcohol and solvent.
Amber will not harm the three-second interaction, but plastic and other fakes will obviously deteriorate.
Such a check is carried out, for example, using acetone only on the inner surface of jewelry. After the experiment, acetone residues are thoroughly eliminated, otherwise they will negatively affect the state of amber. Any non-standard effect - the occurrence of stickiness, the appearance of viscosity, the deterioration of appearance - says that this is a fake, most likely from plastic.
It will be possible to appreciate the naturalness of the stone, if you set it on fire. It is enough to touch the amber surface with a red-hot needle. Melted amber emits white smoke with the scent of rosin - with a slight acidity, but at the same time quite pleasant. In this case, plastic and other synthetics will certainly emit a different smell.. Sometimes it is not necessary to act with fire, since when rubbing a natural sample with a palm, a slightly coniferous smell will begin to appear.
A good solution would be to place amber under ultraviolet rays, if possible. All layers and tiers in this situation should slightly shine with a bluish tint of different intensity. If initially the stone was cloudy, then the glow will turn out to be light blue, and the bone variety will sparkle with almost milky tints. Ultraviolet, by the way, allows you to see the existing bubbles, cracks and wave-like transitions. If amber is fake, then it will not glow. The rays just seem to pass through it, without creating any effect.
In addition, it turns out that there are no bubbles, and the mineral itself is completely homogeneous.
If we talk about professional testing, then the hardness of minerals is also evaluated in accordance with the Mohs scale. The required indicator is from 2 to 2.5 out of 10, and for cheaper counterfeit counterparts it barely reaches the interval from 1 to 1.5. Separately, it should be clarified what the smell may turn out to be when the temperature rises or other exposure. Since amber is a frozen resin, warming it up, you can feel the steady aroma of the needles of trees. It will be natural and very pleasant. Any other smells - burns inherent in fake plastic, burning paper, set fire to cotton wool - signal the unnaturalness of the acquired object.
See how to distinguish amber from a fake.
