Amber, which is also known as the 'gold of the north', is one of the oldest material used for adornment that is known today. Evidence of it's use go back to archeological digs dated around 35 - 45,000 years ago by primitive societies around the Baltic sea. It was traded from the north with the Greeks and Romans 2500 years ago. It is mentioned in many Greek books that have made their way to us, one of which is Homer's classic Iliad which recounts the sack of the Greek city of Troy in approximately 1200 BC.

Amber is the fossilized sap of trees which have been buried millions of years ago. As the sap flowed from the still living tree, various insects, plant remains and the occasional lizard or frog may have been trapped by the viscous fluid. These were preserved through the ages and some are in such an excellent state of preservation that DNA has successfully been recovered from these extinct life forms (but there is no evidence in the available literature that someone may have cloned dinosaurs from this DNA...at least not yet!)

As amber is an organic compound. whose average composition runs something like C₁₀H₁₆O, it is not a mineral or a true gem'stone'. The fossilization process renders the compound compact, hard and resistant to chemical attack by various solvents. Although the hardness of this material is not that great (average 2 ½ on the Moh's scale, or slightly harder than a fingernail), it can be and is commonly used in rings, broaches and pendants. It can be almost any color but the most abundant material tends to be in the yellow-orange range. Red, green and blue amber can also be found but is much more scarce. The relative softness of amber is no doubt one of the reasons for it's early use as it is readily workable with hand tools. Amber can easily be worked with sandpaper and polished with a fine cloth. A good start may be 220 grit paper then, 320, 600 and 1200 grit with polishing done on a small buff with ZAM or a similar compound.

Amber's specific gravity (S.G.) ranges between 1.06 to 1.08 but can be as high as 1.30. The light weight of amber allows it to float on salt water, which is a useful trick to tell amber apart from plastic or glass imitations as most of these will sink in a solution of water and 2 1/2 tablespoons of salt. The fact that amber floats in sea water is the reason why the beaches of the Baltic Sea have always been renowned hunting grounds for this gem material. The actual amber-bearing clay beds lay at the bottom of the sea and are occasionally turned over by strong surf and wave action during storms. The amber is loosened and then floats to shore where it can be collected on the beaches.

Apart from the Baltic Sea and Poland (where the amber is mined from terrestrial deposits), historical sources of amber have included Burma, Sicily and Romania. New sources of material include the very prolific Dominican Republic deposits where amber is mined from hard rock in the mountains and where some of the nicest blue and red amber comes from. The largest piece of amber on record from the DR weighted 17 ½ pounds.

Mexico and Columbia are two new commercial sources of amber on the market. Supply is sporadic but the quality is reported to be good in terms of size and color of the material. One should be careful as some of the material reported from Columbia may be softer, younger tree sap known as copal. Copal is essentially the same material as amber but has not undergone the fossilization process and is therefore not as hard nor as resistant to chemical attack as real amber. The lapidarist will know that he has copal when he tries to polish his piece and the material starts to deform and flow with the buildup of heat caused by the polishing process. Another test is to put a drop of ethyl alcohol on a piece of suspect amber. True amber will not be affected but copal will be attacked by the alcohol and start to soften within 20-30 seconds. At this point, the material will 'pull' at the fibers of a cotton ball used to wipe the alcohol. These tests are 'quick and dirty' ones which offer good guidelines but guidance should be gained from experts if a serious problem arises.

Amber is commonly treated to remove a haze due to numerous small fluid inclusions. The treatment is essentially that of slowly heating the material in oil or, as the Roman Pliny the Elder suggested, to "boil the amber in the fat of a suckling pig". One of the effects created with a special technique of rapid heating and cooling (which remains a trade secret) is that of the famous leaf-like inclusions often referred to as 'sun-spangles'. Small pieces of amber can also be heated to the point where the material will start to flow (I80º - 250º C) and then be pressed together to produce large pieces of what is known as 'pressed amber' or 'ambroid'. Elongated bubbles and distinct flow lines between the different pieces of amber forming the larger piece are tell tale signs of the reconstruction process.

Closer to home. amber is commonly found in association with the Cretaceous coal seams of Alberta as well as in the badlands, in the Drumheller area. Nice pieces to about I inch have been reported. A much larger occurrence is at Cedar Lake, in Manitoba. where the amber is found on one of the lake's beaches Between 1895 and I 937, the Hudson's Bay Company reportedly mined more than a ton of amber from this deposit to make ... varnish.

From the 220 million year old amber of the Bavarian Alps to the 16 million year old pieces from the Dominican Republic, much amber has been found and used for jewelry, trading and scientific research. An excellent book for those who would like to know more is "The quest for life in amber" by George and Roberta Poinar (Addison-Wesley publishing company, ISBN #0-201-62660-8). Although somewhat technical at times, it is a fun read and has a great bibliography for those who want to dig out more references.