Diagnostics and examination of amber

amber Amber (succinite, burshtin, amber, burshtin ore, bodenstein, amber) is a fossil fossilized resin of ancient extinct mainly coniferous trees formed 45-50 million years ago, which in the process of fossilization has lost most of its volatile components.

According to the international mineralogical term, it is customary to call fossilized resin containing succinite (from the Latin name of a pine that grew in the distant past on the territory of the modern Baltic region) amber, everything else is amber-like resin. All varieties of amber-like resins are found in different parts of the world and are named by location: Sakhalin, British, Greenlandic, Brazilian, Mexican, Sicilian, Indonesian, Dominican. You can also find special names: almashite, aikite, ambrite, beckerite, ambrosine, burmite, valhovite, etc.

History of the formation of amber

Approximately 45-50 million years ago there was a significant warming and humidification of the climate, which caused abundant resin flow of trees. Rivers and streams gradually washed out the hardened lumps of resin from the earth and carried them to the mouth of a large river that flowed into the ancient sea. In other places in Europe, amber was introduced during the movement of the glacier during the last ice age.

Amber deposits: in Russia - the Kaliningrad region and the Far East; in countries on the coast of the Baltic Sea - Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Germany, Denmark; in other European countries - Belarus, Ukraine, Romania; in other countries - Mexico, Dominican Republic, Myanmar, USA (Alaska).

Amber from the Lower Cretaceous deposits of Lebanon was formed from the resin of araucaria. In the Cretaceous, these trees occupied vast areas in the southern hemisphere. They still produce a significant amount of copal resin.

The chemical composition of amber

Amber is heterogeneous in its composition: a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, resins, succinic acid and oils. Amber contains more than 40 compounds.
The percentage of components present in amber is typically:

78.6% carbon;
10.5% hydrogen;
10.5% oxygen;
0.4% sulfur.

Usually, the following formula for amber is given as a "mineral" - C ₁₀ H ₁₆ O ₄ + (H ₂ S).

Succinite contains lactone (ester) groups and is an ester.

The content of succinic acid in succinite ranges from 3 to 8%: the lowest is in transparent succinite (3.2-4.5%), the highest is in the weathered surface crust (8.2%).

According to the above, amber consists of three groups of compounds:

volatile aromatic compounds - terpenes with 10 carbon atoms and sesquiterpenes with 15 carbon atoms in the molecule (about 10% by weight);
soluble organic acids: dehydroabietic, isodextropimaric, dehydroisopimaric, sandarakopimaric, diagenic and abietic acids and its isomers: levopimaric, palustrinic, neoabietic, dextropimaric and isodextropimaric acids. They constitute a part soluble in organic solvents (20-25%);
insoluble polyesters of these acids with alcohols formed from the same acids - succinite.

Physicochemical properties of amber

jantar sukcinit min

Crystallographic system of amber: amorphous, occasionally crystalline formations are found.
Optical properties of amber: isotropic (independence of material properties from the direction of measurement). Most amber is weakly anisotropic. Anisotropy is associated with stresses arising from the hardening and fossilization of the resin, as well as with various mechanical influences that amber is subjected to after its formation.
Refractive index: 1.537-1.548.
Density: 1.05-1.09 g / cm ³ (there are samples up to 1.3 g / cm ³ ).
Hardness: 2.0-2.5 on the Mohs scale (for comparison: the hardness of gypsum - 2, quartz - 7, diamond - 10).
Brittle: easily shattered by impact or falling.
Cleavage: absent, fracture, less often splinter.
Luster of amber: greasy, resinous, less often waxy.
Amber colors: opaque white, lemon yellow, golden, red-brown; transparent colorless, pale yellow, bright red; deep red to black; very rarely green (transparent and opaque) and blue.
Luminescent properties of amber: glow effect in reflected light, ultraviolet radiation.
Static electricity: attracts small, light objects (pieces of paper, lint, etc.) when rubbed
Thermal and electrical conductive properties of amber: extremely low; warm to the touch.
Thermoplasticity: melts at 350-380 ° C.
Heat resistance: burns well with the release of a pleasant tarry smoke.
Inclusions: organic remains of flora and fauna; inorganic minerals, gases and liquids.
Finding amber: in sedimentary rocks, as well as in the pebbles and sands of the sea coasts.

Varieties of amber

Amber is of different types:

amber natural 1. Natural amber. Natural amber varies in color from yellow, the color of acacia honey (Baltic amber, succinite) to reddish brown and dark brown, cherry color (Burmese amber). In addition, many varieties of natural amber and amber-like resins are distinguished: succinite (98% of production), gedanite (2% of production), stanthienite (black amber), beckerite, glessite, crancite, etc.

2. Refined amber (the method was used in ancient times) - amber boiled in honey, vegetable oil or wine to obtain a reddish color, however, a thin network of cracks often appeared.

amber heated 3. Red-hot amber (hot-tempered, heat-treated, sparkling) is obtained by heat-treatment of high grades of natural or pressed amber. For this, amber is placed in special ovens at a temperature of 220 ° C for 1.5-2 hours, followed by cooling under a sheet of asbestos on calcined sea sand. In the process of such processing, amber becomes transparent. Depending on the duration of heating, its color gradually changes from golden to dark cherry. At the same time, small fan-shaped cracks - "husks" are formed inside the stone, they create an additional beautiful play of the stone.
Before quenching, cloudy and translucent amber is preliminarily discolored in special autoclaves - kept for 15-16 hours under pressure in purified nitrogen at a temperature of about 250 ° C.

amber extruded 4. Pressed amber (ambroid, amberoid) is, in fact, also natural amber, made from fine pure amber fraction (90% of extraction) ground into powder (flour) and heated without access to air. Then the mass is placed in a special press and under a pressure of more than 1000 atmospheres and at a temperature of 180-220 ° C. As a result, amber flour turns into a viscous mass. By placing this mass in a special mold, you can get various products of different shapes. Sometimes, in this case, amber is given a different color by adding different dyes to the molten mass. Such amber becomes more turbid, loses its transparency and the unique ability of natural amber to play with light. The selection of natural amber with different shades and degree of turbidity and the addition of dyes in combination with special pressure regimes make it possible to obtain amber products of different color and structure.
Pressed amber is difficult to distinguish from natural amber. Under a magnifying glass in pressed amber, one can observe structural flows - rectilinear, curved and spiral-like, balls of dense groundmass, small lumps of dyes. Less valued than usual, but more widely represented on the market.

copal madagaskar 5. Copal, kaur, unripe amber are young amber. Copal was formed from a maximum of 10 thousand to 1 million years ago, with certain knowledge, such amber can be obtained from the resin of modern trees (kaura). Such young amber will be less durable than natural amber, which affects the service life. A cracked surface is characteristic of digging.

imitation melted 6. "Fused amber" (after the method of heat treatment, bernite, polybernum or composite materials containing natural amber) is a product of amber fusion and a large amount of artificial additives (plastics, dyes). Bernite contains about 5% of real amber, and the rest is polyester resins. It can imitate the structure of red-hot amber obtained using the "micro-explosion" technology to create decorative internal cracks.

baltic amber products 7. Products of chemical processing of amber. The smallest, contaminated pieces of amber and waste, which are obtained during the processing of large pieces, are heated in special boilers to 350-370 ° C. Amber melts and under the influence of chemical reactions decomposes into simpler substances: succinic acid (1.2%), amber oil (about 15%) and "fused amber" (after the method of chemical processing, about 65% of the weight of the feedstock).

Succinic acid (in the form of white crystals) is used in pharmacology and food industry, as well as in agriculture as a good plant growth stimulator.
Amber oil is used to make amber varnishes, which were used to coat tools by such great craftsmen as Amati and Stradivari, used for molding in foundry and as a means for preserving wood (for example, railway sleepers).
"Fused amber" (amber rosin) is suitable for the production of varnishes and enamels, which are used to cover furniture and musical instruments, when creating printing inks.

Identification of fakes of natural amber

Currently, there are many plastics, synthetic resins, celluloid, glass and composites that very well reproduce the basic properties of natural amber. Such products are called imitations of amber.

There are several primitive ways to diagnose natural amber:

amber Method 1: general view. The stone should be similar to amber in color, weight, clarity, shape and size. Amber occurs in the form of grains, nodules and plates ranging in size from a few mm to 50 cm.It is often transparent, the color is predominantly yellow (succinite), orange to cherry red (rumenite, burmite), the famous waxy (bastard) and milky white (bone) amber.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 50%.

test jantarja igloj Method 2: thermal test. Try to set fire to the crumb obtained from the stone or touch the amber with a heated needle in an inconspicuous place. Natural amber will immediately begin to spread the pleasant aroma of pine resin, needles. The plastic will smell like burning rubber, plastic, it will smoke.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 10%.

test jantarja vodoi Method 3: solvent test. To distinguish a digger from real amber, drop a drop of alcohol on the item and put your finger on it. If the surface is dry - amber, sticky - dug. In the absence of alcohol, use acetone: drip onto the product and leave for 3 seconds. After that, wipe off the drop, if there is a stain, dig it.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 10%.

Method 4: density. The method is simple but effective. Natural amber sinks in ordinary water, since the average density of amber is 1.08-1.12 g / cm ³ , and the density of water at room temperature (20 ° C) is 0.99 g / cm ³ . But if you add 31.72 g (2-3 teaspoons) of kitchen salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) to 100 ml of water, then the density of the resulting solution will be 1.20 g / cm ³ . If natural amber is dipped into the resulting solution, it will float up. Modern resins and plastics differ from amber in a higher density (> 1.20 g / cm ³ ), so they will sink to the bottom. But, if the product is enclosed in a metal frame, it will be difficult to use this method. Also, do not forget to wash off the salt from the amber later, so as not to spoil the surface with a salt crust.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 7%.

test jantarja hrupkost Method 5: fragility. Run a not too sharp blade over the surface of the stone. Natural amber will immediately give small crumbs. Imitation of amber from plastics can only produce shavings, moreover, twisted ones. Imitation amber glass will remain intact. Also press on the product with a hard object. If there is a trace on it, I dug in front of you.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 1%.

test jantarja uv Method 6: luminescence . If a banknote verification machine is available, the stone can be checked in ultraviolet light. Under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, amber will begin to luminesce - giving light mainly from bluish-white to yellow-green. Most plastics do not glow in ultraviolet rays, copal turns white, burmite turns blue.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 1%.

elektrostaticheskije svojstva jantarja Method 7: electrification. Rub the amber vigorously with a woolen cloth. Natural amber will become slightly electrified by static electricity and will attract small pieces of paper, threads, and dust. True, many plastics have the same properties, but if the product is not "electrified", then this is an obvious fake.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 1%.

There are also professional expert methods for diagnosing natural amber:

inkluz mnogonozki Method 8: Structure under a microscope or magnifying glass. Both externally and internally, natural amber should have an appropriate structure: characteristic currents and cracks, air bubbles, remains of vegetation.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 7%.

inclus jantar Method 9: Inclusions. Insect inclusions can also be found in imitations of amber. If the wings of insects are folded, this indicates that the inclusion was made post mortem (posthumously - lat.). And in real amber, a living creature trapped in the resin tried to get out, so its wings are spread out. Also in the imitation there may be groups of insects or plants that simply could not get into it, either by their habitat, or by age.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 3%.

baltic amber craquelure Method 10: Weathering crust. With prolonged exposure to air, the surface of the amber changes. If you break or saw a piece of amber, you can see that its surface is colored more intensely than the central part. The weathering crust of Baltic amber is either completely absent or reaches an insignificant thickness from 0.3 to 1 mm. As a rule, it has a brown-yellow color. The thickness of the crust of Rovno amber ranges from 0.5 to 4 mm and often has a reddish, orange, brown, and sometimes dark brown tint. In fractured areas, this process is more complete than in a solid piece, and ends with the formation of an oxidation (weathering) crust, often broken by thin cracks into polygonal areas of different sizes.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 5%.

amber FTIR spectrometer Method 11: IR spectrometry of amber. Infrared spectroscopy is a powerful and rapid method for the diagnosis and identification of amber. The possibility of obtaining a reflection spectrum allows you to study and diagnose stones even in the setting. Like any organic substance, amber has its own unique IR absorption spectrum, which makes it distinguishable from synthetic imitations.
Contribution of the indicator to the overall reliability: 5%.

Gemological expertise

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