What Is Amber | How to Buy Amber Gemstone Jewelry?
Amber is fossilized tree resin, also known as succinite and copal, from which ancient trees were produced centuries ago. When insects, leaves, bacteria, and other organic matter become trapped in the resin, it fossilizes along with it. This makes amber a great resource for scientists to explore ancient living things and organisms that have long been extinct from our planet today. Amber has fascinated people for thousands of years and continues to do so today( Amber Gemstone Jewelry)!
Amber comes from the resin of trees, primarily pines and conifers. Amber forms when the sticky resin drips onto the ground hardens into a solid and becomes fossilized over time. Amber can range in colour from white to yellow, red, orange, green, blue, or black depending on what trapped matter got fossilized inside of it; each type of amber has its own name based on its colour and overall appearance.
Discoveries About Ancient Life With Amber
The bodies of creatures, insects and plants are often fossilized by leaving behind physical remains in amber rings for sale. When resin oozes over a trapped creature or plant, it quickly hardens into solid stone creating a ring around it. An ancient fungus contained in amber brought these two men fame when they were able to grow it under controlled conditions and examine its long lost DNA. The main factor contributing to how much is amber worth is its age and rarity( Amber Gemstone Jewelry).
How Amber Can Help Us Understand Ancient Times
Most people have heard of amber before, but few know much about it. Amber is fossilized resin, typically from coniferous trees, like pine or fir. As a result of its sticky nature, insects and other organic matter can become trapped inside amber rings for sale. This resin is extremely valuable because it can help scientists uncover information about early life forms. Before studying a piece of amber up close, you should be aware that some pieces are fakes.
Where Does Amber Come From?
Amber is a fossilized tree resin that has been around for millions of years. It is an organic gemstone that can be used to make jewelry or other valuable objects. Amber can take on many different colors, including yellow, red, green, brown and black. The resin is often yellow in color but other substances trapped inside are responsible for its other hues. How did amber get its name?
The Value of Amber Fossils
But why amber and not some other gemstone like emeralds or diamonds, both of which are much more expensive and hard to come by? The main reason is that amber’s chemical structure helps protect its precious contents. Most gems are minerals, but amber is a little bit different—it’s actually fossilized tree resin. This makes it incredibly tough, but also incredibly brittle in a way that makes it easy to split into thin sheets.
Amber Sources
Fossilized resins are most commonly found in amber, a fossilized tree resin. Many animals and plants have become entombed within these rings, giving scientists insight into ancient ecosystems and organisms. Amber can be found all over Earth’s crust and is sometimes even sourced from fossil-rich locations on land or underwater. The formation of amber is a natural chemical process known as polymerization, in which non-biodegradable plant material gets infused with tree resin—which itself also forms from polymers.
Facts about Fossil Resin
Many people believe that fossils are petrified objects like bones or shells. This isn’t true, however. Fossils are actually remnants of once-living organisms (plants and animals) that have undergone a process called fossilization over millions of years. Fossilization can take a variety of forms, but it is most commonly recognized as being comprised of three steps: permineralization, replacement, and compaction.
Buying & Selling Amber Fossils
What is amber worth? It’s a question that keeps cropping up. When deciding whether to buy or sell an amber fossil, be sure to consider these factors: quality, rarity, provenance (the documentation of its origins), aesthetics, and sentimentality. If your item hasn’t been authenticated by a third party (typically via GIA or AAG labs), proceed with caution( Amber Gemstone Jewelry).
Types of Amber Gemstone
We tend to think of amber as always being honey-coloured, but that’s not necessarily true. Amber ranges in colour from clear through shades of red and yellow, orange, brown, purple, green and black.
Baltic Amber
Amber is a gemstone that has been treasured by people for thousands of years. It has an appealing color and is fossilized, which means it’s over 40 million years old. Baltic amber is the most popular type of amber in the world because it comes from that specific area on the Baltic Sea shores. This type of amber looks particularly appealing when polished, with colors ranging from yellow to deep red, brown and black, depending on what was trapped inside the resin millions of years ago.
Dominican Amber
For example, Dominican amber is mined in Hispaniola (the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic). This variety is highly valued for its clarity and higher number of inclusions. It’s also more prevalent, making it cheaper to procure. In fact, most large amber rings available for sale will be Dominican amber. Some even have a distinctly Haitian look about them.