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Amber
The name has come down, probably through French,
from the Arabic anbar. The Romans called it succinum, as it
was rightly believed to be from tree sap. Its use as an ornamental
material dates from Neolithic times. It was brought to the
foothills of the Alps from the Baltic coast. The distances
that had to be covered to obtain it, enormous for those days,
give an idea of its importance.
Appearance It is typically yellow to honey-colored,
or yellow brown to brown, with good transparency, revealing
glimpses of opaque brown to black frustules on the inside,
almost disc-shaped surfaces with types of radial veins and
sometimes animal remains, especially of arthropods (mainly
insects, arachnids, and miriapods). Small gna wasps and ants
are sometimes clearly recognizable, cause whole and perfectly
preserved in every detail. Son amber, however, is quite cloudy
-from translucent semiopaque-and lemon yellow to orange yellow
or brown in color.
The semiopaque brown color is the least valuable. T1 opaque
varieties are sometimes treated to make the transparent. Amber
takes an excellent polish and is used irregular, polyhedral
pieces, similar to slightly elongate tetrahedra, polished
and threaded into necklaces, and spherical or oval disc-shaped
and globular pieces with p: lyhedral faceting, likewise threaded
into necklaces, bracelets and other types of jewelry. Pieces
several centimeter in size (though not easy to find) are sometimes
used well, because having such a low density, this material
- very light. In the recent past, it was used, in the West,
th Arab world, and the Far East, for carved items, figurines
small perfume bottles, cigarette holders and pipe part, brooches,
buckles, and pendants. The semitransparent opaque varieties
are often used for carving and engravin
Distinctive features There
is another semifossil natur: resin, of limited value and importance,
called copal, whic looks very much like amber at first sight.
Numerous artif - cial, plastic materials are also widely employed
as excellent, inexpensive substitutes for amber. To be sure
by distinguishing them, the following procedure should be
used. First, a quick check of the density should be made using
a very concentrated solution of kitchen salt in water Only
amber, copal, and polystyrene float in this; all othe types
of plastic sink, unless they have large cavities inside which
will be clearly visible.
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