How to test is Baltic amber real?

When there are so many fakes in the market, it becomes important to be able to test amber. There are few ways to test amber, but i will write here about few most popular and best known ways to do that at you own home.

Salted water test.

This is one of best known ways to test Baltic amber, but it is considered to be not exact, because density of amber varies a lot: from 0.93 to 2. Fresh water is measured 1. This means some amber pieces float even in fresh water (that usually is white amber), some sink in salt saturated water (closer to 2 usually is amber with earth inclusions). 

If you have purchased jewelry, it most probably has thread, plastic or metal clasps, maybe some other details. Those details might make Baltic amber to sink too. 

UV test.

Baltic amber fluorescence (shines) under UV light. This test does not work on heated amber, and as i have noticed, often does not work even on natural, not heated cherry color amber - change under UV light is not so drastic as other colors especially if that cherry amber is opaque. So if amber does not fluorescence under UV light, test it in the following way.

Hot needle/pin test.
This test is also called as "smell test". 

Baltic amber ancient fossilized tree sap. Comes from trees which no longer grow on  on the surface of Earth. Baltic amber is 40-60 million years old. During that time tree saps have changed and became natural polymers, that means plastic made by nature. Each color of amber has its own smell. This is because each color of amber has been formed in different environment, with different chemical compounds in the soil, different temperature, different time of exposure to the Sun and air and so on. So, basically each amber piece has slightly different smell, and color's smell can be very different from each other.

In order to test, heat a needle or steel wire, touch with amber piece and smell what comes out.

White and very light yellow Baltic amber has a lot of amber acid (up to 8% from it's mass). For this reason it's smell is a bit sour.

Honey amber gives smell which is close to pine sap or colophon smell.

 As scientific books about Baltic amber say, clear light Baltic amber has formed inside of tree, usually under the bark of tree. It had gone through different processes than other colors of amber for this reason it has a bit different chemical and physical properties than other amber colors. It fluorescence under UV light, but when tested with smell test it smell more like plastic than pine sap. The more clear it is the more plastic it will smell. If clear light amber has, for example, slight honey color like in photo above, it will have hint of pine smell and a hint of plastic smell.  In the photo with light yellow unpolished amber, beads looks a bit cloudy, but in fact they are transparent and clear with slight shade of yellow, just matte surface makes to look them so. So they should smell like clear amber.
Hot temperature (when smoke starts to come out) enhances smell of plastic. In other colors pine smell is strong enough to overcome plastic smell, but in such light clear amber testing temperature is very important. So do not burn it - touch with hot metal and smell it right away.

Heated Baltic amber has weaker pine/colophon smell than not heated amber. It looks like, that some of that smell goes a way during the process of heating. But when you have such amber, try harder to feel that hint of pine smell. 

Scientists say, that natural cherry color also was formed by heat, most probably in forest fires. for this reason intensity of depends a lot on shade of amber and for the same reason it does not shine so dramatically under UV light.. 

Copal
In one of the videos in Youtube I saw woman saying that amber is a bit gummy, my face expression was like that: o.O ... because copal might be gummy due to young age (1-5 million years old) and process of polymerization did not went so far in it like in natural Baltic amber (age 40-60 million years old).
Copal can go through most of the tests which amber goes through, but usually it is in more gummy state than amber is and has more sweet smell that amber does. Amber's hardness is similar to nail hardness, so it is quite hard and not gummy for sure.

Air Bubbles
If you see air bubbles in stones, you know that it is glass fake. This does not work on Baltic amber. Some amber pieces do have air bubbles and from those bubbles scientists got information about what atmosphere was on earth 40-60 million years ago. So if you see bubbles in Baltic amber, it does not mean, that amber is fake.

To conclude... 

The only perfect way to test amber is costly tests in laboratory. If you test amber at home, you will need some knowledge... :)

It might also be interesting for you to read:
What is amber and Baltic amber?
How Baltic amber can be used for healing and what is amber acid?
What is amber for? (some information)
About ambers of the world and copal
Who am I? (about me)
How to choose Baltic amber teething necklace?

How to make Baltic amber teething necklace?

P.S. I am sorry for mistakes - English is not my native language.

Which baby teething necklace is best for my baby?

This is one of the questions which i get quite often. I though it would be good idea to write a blog entry which would help to make a decision.

There are couple things which are important when deciding what you need: surface and color.

SURFACE:
There are few kinds of teething necklace's surfaces: raw, unpolished, polished, heated.

Raw Baltic amber necklaces have untreated beads. Beads are selected, drilled and made in to necklaces. "Sharp edges" give massage which increases blood circulation, which help for healing process and to distribute substances which are absorbed through skin. They have most of surface, so easier than other bead types releases amber acid. You may read more about amber acid in following blog's post:

http://oldknowledge.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-amber-can-be-used-for-healin-what.html

                                                                  Raw Baltic amber

Unpolished Baltic amber is such kind of amber where amber is shaped ir "sharp" edges are treated, but matte surface is left. Such kind of beads has smaller surface in total than raw amber, but it usually touches skin with more surface than raws. For this reason such amber is a bit less effective or has same affect as raw amber.

                                                        Unpolished Baltic amber

Polished Baltic amber is such kind of amber where surface is polished to shiny state. Polishing might be done in abrasive way (abrasive-polishing dust, sand paper) or by heating. Such amber has less surface in total, harder releases healing oils and amber acid, but looks much more beautiful. I have got many letters which wrote that such amber helped to solve various issues, so it has healing properties for sure too. 

                                                             Polished Baltic amber.

Heated  Baltic amber is such kind of amber which was effected by heat to change some properties like: to enhance color, to change color, to increase clearness, sometimes heat might be used as a way to polish. Most (not all) cherry color amber is heated. I suggest to search for sellers who inform is amber heated or not.
The more amber is heated the lower healing properties it has. So slightly heated amber has slightly lower healing properties than polished amber. Amber heated to the point where it will change color (like in cherry amber case), has lowest healing properties from all ambers.

                                                                    Heated Baltic amber

COLOR
Cherry color Baltic amber.

As mentioned before, most of cherry Baltic amber is heated. Looks amazing, has some healing properties, but there can be and more effective colors to heal.

                                                            Cherry color Baltic amber

White color Baltic amber
It is almost opposite of  cherry color. It contains so much amber acid, that when burned as incense it has sour smell. Less than 1% of Baltic amber is in white or very light yellow color, so for this reason and for healing properties this color is very valued. White Baltic amber is always polished or unpolished, because in raw state it is in dark yellow or brown color due to surface oxidation. 

 White color Baltic amber

Yellow color Baltic amber.
Cloudy or opaque ambers usually have a bit higher healing properties, but clear or semi clear yellow amber is something what gives amber name "Sun stone" - it looks like pieces of Sun. Yellow is color of energy, and everyone needs energy especially if there is health problem. So yellow amber is universal amber.

                                                               Yellow color Baltic amber

Brown color Baltic amber . 

Brown amber is very good for various problems but it especially helps body to remove what is unnecessary to it. So if there is digestion problems, toxins in the body, skin blemishes and so on, brown amber is what you need. 

                                                              Brown color Baltic amber

Red Baltic amber.
Red amber gives more energy to become active, trust in you own abilities. Helps to man's and boys reproductive organs. So it is balanced for grown up people, unless you child needs encouragement or healing powers for boys reproductive organs.

                                                             Red  color Baltic amber

Black Baltic amber.
Jet black amber is something what people in ancient times avoided. It was used to guide soul safely in to afterlife and in black magic. People did not worn black amber but had somewhere at home "in case it would be needed". Children under 10-11 years old should not wear any black stones, amber especially. Many people forgot this knowledge and are selling black amber teething necklaces as something cool, for some sellers money is something more important that the results for the customers.

        Black color Baltic amber (few beads are cherry, that can be seen from shade which they drop)

Amber color Baltic amber.
We do not have such name of color in our (Lithuanian) vocabulary, so we add those pieces to yellow, brown or red ambers depending on shade.

Conclusion:
My personal favorite necklaces are unpolished or raw necklaces in white, yellow or light brown/honey colors. When my friends ask for polished necklaces I recommend yellow & white necklaces, somethimes not heated honey color necklaces.

I hope this blog entry will be helpful to you!


Baltic amber teething necklaces at my shop:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/amber4you?section_id=10413188
My Baltic amber shop: amber4you.etsy.com

It might also be interesting for you to read:
What is amber and Baltic amber?
How Baltic amber can be used for healing and what is amber acid?
What is amber for? (some information)
About ambers of the world and copal
Who am I? (about me)

How amber can be used for healing? What is amber acid?

For beginning about place where amber comes from... People in the territory of Baltic lands and Lithuania lives more than 12 000 years. As traditions ware and are important, many knowledge comes from unknown times.
Lithuanian language is the oldest alive Indo European language. In Lithuanian speaks about 4 million people in the world, but it is taught at the biggest universities of the world. Lithuanian language has many similarities with sanskrit (old Indian language) language, many words which are pronounced in similar way has same meanings. So Lithuanian language is at least 5000 years old. Not many language live so long :)

For beginning about amber: "amber" in Lithuanian language is called "gintaras" [g i n t a r a s]. Many people think (me including) that it comes from the verb "ginti" (we are changing endings in our language and in that way we are creating verbs, nouns, adjectives and etc.). "Ginti" means to protect, defend, guard. To protect from illness, to guard soul and body.

Why to choose Baltic amber for healing?
Baltic amber is valued not for cool marketing :) It is valued because Baltic amber contains most of the amber acid inside in the world (to compare with other ambers from other regions). I have written about ambers of the world and copal in this blog.. But Baltic amber is most valued among them all. Yes, for the same acid. And.. for the beauty. Such beautiful and deep colours.
When you ware Baltic amber, some of succinic acid (it is the other name of amber acid) in very small amounts gets through your skin in to you body. The today's medicine also use amber acid which is taken from the Baltic amber. And yes, today's modern medicine uses that acid to heal people. It is expensive, so many people use natural Baltic amber as an alternative for amber acid sold by pharmacists.

Ambers from my Baltic amber shop on Etsy

It's chemical formula is C4H6O4. Melting point 184-187 degrees C. Succinic acid is white crystal powder, whose taste is similar to ascorbic acid (That E330, the one which you find in lemons, oranges and so on.. also called Vitamin C).

What else is special about amber acid? It works where body needs help and do not touch healthy places of the body. It do not stay in a body of human for a long time. Amber acid helps for body and mind. There many recipes in ancient Chinese medicine, where Baltic amber is used (Baltic amber to Chine has been brought by Arabian people, who brought also the name "anbar")

Amber acid is antiseptic (kills microbes), strengthens immune system, reduces negative affect of stress, helps to heal when there are inflammatory processes in the body, strengthens the work of intestine and kidneys, helps to remove toxins from the body, stimulates neuro system. Amber (or succinic) acid is also used to heal various anemias, sudden/strong radiculitis, chronic heart veins illnesses (after myocardium infarct, coronary sclerosis).
When people have problems with thyroid, it is suggested to use amber acid (or amber powder) in oral way and to wear a necklace from natural ambers.

Amber acid doest not have any known side affects.

People who uses amber acid in small amount in prophylactic way regularly, have good mood, healthy hart, are active optimists.
The norm of amber acid in the blood is 0,2-0,8 mmol/l. So people who are always sad, always irritated, always in bad mood and feel the stress from almost nowhere, could make a blood test (in clinics) and make some changes in their lives.

The brighter amber is, the more amber acid it has. That is why white, bone, ivory, light yellow colours are valued so much. Even when you are using a piece of amber, you may notice, that smells of brown and light ambers differs a lot. The lighter colour is, the more smell is sour.

People should heal the diseases by themselves. Professionals are for this. But as I say, today's medicine if in hands of pharmacist, where people are not patients any more, they are clients, who bring the profit. In hard cases modern medicine may be main cure, but in many cases it heals symptoms, but not the reason. Instead of helping for the body to heal it self, weakens it.
If you are willing to heal yourself from something with amber and/or amber acid, you should be watched by doctor, to see how it works for you. Do not forget to give all information you have about amber to your doctor, they know much more about many things than other people, but they do not know all.
In Europe Baltic amber is well know, but in other continents it is still exotic "warm stone".

Other articles:
What is amber and Baltic amber?
What is amber for? (some information)
Who am I? (about me)

P.S. I am sorry for my mistakes. English is not my native language. If you would like to help me to reduce the number of mistakes you have noticed, please, write to me laura.jankauskaite@gmail.com

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