By P.J.Joseph
Learn by doing.
-Anonymous
Chapter 2
Amber
One late afternoon a musician met with the compassionate boss at his office. The compassionate boss came forward, welcomed the musician politely and offered him a chair; the precious assistants glanced at him knowingly.
He looked at the plaque and paused.
“Sir, this is the most beautiful gift I have ever received from a member of my band,” the musician said happily.
The compassionate boss examined the gift with passionate attention.
“The prayer bead is beautiful,” the compassionate boss said. “Its amber, and the best I have seen so far—the Oh My God gem quality.”
“You think so?” the musician asked. “How do you know the quality? Please explain it to me. I don’t know much about it.”
“With keen observation and practice you learn the fine details. You get a feel for the material with time,” the compassionate boss replied.
The musician tried to reason, to understand.
“I would like to know more about it,” the musician said. “Organic gems have always fascinated me.”
“Amber is fossilized resin from ancient forests. It’s a geological miracle and one of the wonders of Mother Nature. Ancient tropical forests have been excreting small and large drops of aromatic sticky resin embedding leaves and insects in their path. With time they hardened into soft and lustrous substances. The fossilized lustrous material began to wash up on the sea shores and beyond. Amazingly it’s the women who began to love and wear amber. There is a peculiar romance associated with amber’s unbelievable life span under the sea and the biological particularities,” the compassionate boss explained.
“I believe in God’s miracles. What are the colors of amber?” the musician asked.
“Pale yellow is the commonest color. The gem quality specimens are perfectly transparent and are termed clear amber. It takes good polish and is in demand as beads. Massive amber is more or less cloudy. The cloudy type may be translucent to opaque, and softer than clear amber with an inferior polish. White, blue and green amber are rare,” the compassionate boss replied.
“Do you think the prayer bead is clear amber?” the musician asked.
“You are right,” Peter said. “Like colored stones no two amber pieces look the same. Amber is fashioned as beads, cabochon or carved for ornamental purposes. ”
The telephone rang.
As he was about to leave the office for commercial errand, he turned toward the musician, lowered his eyes and said, “My precious assistants will be working with you for a while.”
The musician bowed and said, “Certainly, sir.”
“I didn’t know about the qualities,” the musician remarked. “Please tell me more about amber.”
“Amber may darken to red or brownish red color with age and the change is due to unique chemical reaction,” Simon said. “It also can be electrified by rubbing with a cloth and will attract bits of paper. Amber floats in a saturated saltwater solution while its closest simulant plastic sinks.”
“That’s interesting,” the musician said. “In fact I would like to try it for an experience.”
The musician’s eye suddenly filled with tears.
Simon continued, “Because of its resinous nature, amber gives off a distinctive aromatic color when hot needle is applied to an inconspicuous spot, while plastic give off an acrid odor.”
“Wow!”
“Cloudy amber may be treated to improve its appearance by heating in vegetable oil or in air. Leaf-like cracks may be seen or caused deliberately which is part of the clarification,” Peter said.
“That’s not good. Why do they do it?” the musician asked.
“In order to improve the overall quality,” Simon remarked. “Amber can be enhanced with special heat treatment or dyeing, especially green, to induce artificial aging.”
“That’s not very nice,” the musician said. “I thought they were all natural.”
“Small amber chips may be compressed under heat and pressure to produce larger material,” Peter said.
“How do you identify it?” the musician asked.
“They are called pressed amber or ambroid. There is a difference in the texture and the material may show roiled appearance because of distortion. With reference samples and keen observation one should be able to detect the specimen,” Simon said.
“Are there any synthetic amber?” the musician asked.
“Don’t worry. You will see more imitations such as plastic, carnelian, and glass. Copal resin or Kauri gum, which is a recent fossil, may have very similar appearance,” Simon said.
“I didn’t know it,” the musician said.
“Don’t panic,” Peter bowed. “If you have any further doubts you are always welcome to visit us.”
“I will,” the musician said. “And thank you all for taking caring of me.”
When the compassionate boss returned he displayed amber beads of extraordinary size and beauty and showed them to the musician. The two men looked into each other’s eyes with excitement.
“Did you know that amber is a man’s best friend?” the compassionate boss remarked.
“No, but why?” the musician asked.
“The softness and lightness of amber make it easy to handle and pass through fingers and because of it, amber is of great demand among smokers in cigarette holders, mouthpieces and pipe stems as it feels cool. Some of the prized Turkish hookahs embedded with colored stones are popular among collectors,” the compassionate boss said showing one from his collection.
“Oh my God,” the musician said quietly.
Precious insights
- Learn the basics of the qualities of amber.
- Set a personal budget.
- The standard magnification for viewing gems is ten times.
- Use transmitted, reflected and fiber optic light source to view the color contrast between natural, treated and imitation.
- Judge the overall appearance of amber in natural skylight and artificial light source (s).
- Always judge amber by their overall quality not locality.
- Always do your research.
- All treatments should be disclosed at all levels of distribution chain.
- If doubtful have it checked by a reputable gem testing laboratory.
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