Amber?

[Antje]

I'd assumed all amber was the clear yellow, you know- ants encased in it. Had no clue there was anything else, can't think what else these could be? We'd been picking up these denser pieces for some time. Not positive but the smaller pieces you can shine a light through, the large ones, a light does have effect .Colors vary, ' butterscotch ' through cream through almost brown.

 

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[Red James Cash]

Heat a needle up and touch a piece with the needle,if it smells like pine then its amber.

 

[Antje]

Thank you! Never knew that- and find it amazing too. How old is amber? To think it retains a pine smell no matter how you have to get it- whoa! Millions of years! Hard to wrap my head around it.

 

[Red James Cash]

No problem

 

[Antje]

HI again! Hate to be a pest, thought I'd ' report '. Yes, there's a definite piney smell but not what anyone would call ' Eu De Maine Pine Needles Sewed In A Bag For Your Unmentionables Drawer ', Pine. I ended up heating the end of pieces with a lighter, passing it back and forth from a good distance ( careful to not scorch ) because needles kept heating allll the way up and holding them with a cloth or even cork was problematic. This is a weirder smell than I keep seeing described. Between this description and what I read elsewhere it sounds like it should smell like PINE, pine, almost fresh pine tree? It's not- it's A pine smell, definite, just doesn't smell like some just cut down a tree, you know? I suppose not being Baltic Pine could be a difference? Tough to describe, wish I could. Old Pine mulch maybe with a twist of.. ? We have a ton of that around here because there are lot of springs, makes things boggy, fallen Hemlocks- it's a little familiar.

Some pretty light colored pieces were the same plus a few chunks which have these very light colored/white ' things ' ( there's a scientific term ) in them. Will look them up but have to say browsing here beats 100% of what's on the internet elsewhere- and the books. Sincerely wish it were possible to contribute knowledge BACK! Will go poke around the Civil War forum, at least am on solid ground there.

 

[Indian Steve]

Sorry but they look like quartz pebbles to me. A heated pin will penetrate amber. Hold the pin with pliers, get it red hot and poke.

 

[huntsman53]

Sorry but they look like quartz pebbles to me. A heated pin will penetrate amber. Hold the pin with pliers, get it red hot and poke.

Yeah, they appear similar a lot of the Quartz we see in the rivers and some streams here and in North Carolina. I believe that piece in the 5th picture down is Petrified Wood.


Frank

 

[DDancer]

I'm with Huntsman and Indian. Water worn quartz and maybe a bit of petrified wood. Raw amber looks much different and will feel very light compared to any other stone. At best one may consider the stones shown carnelian quartz or iron stained quartz river pebbles. Amber is pretty restricted to where it can be found as well, being a fossilized resin, it just does not show up outside of certain localities.

 

[Eu_citzen]

My first thought is also quartz. Amber has a light, "plastic" feel to it.

 

[Antje]

I think I may have 2 different types here although am not at all arguing with anyone. One is dense with a plastic feel, the other yes, could see where quartz would be a suspect. The end of one became a little melty when the lighter became too close.... . Beginners become distracted by internet postings too, another great reason to join something where people have an awful lot of experience. These 2 looked like postings elsewhere and I see where they're not the dense, solid look?

 

[Hitndahed]

Regardless of the "look" of the material,,,
The 2 above posters which told you to heat a needle and poke the suspect material are TOTALLY correct.

And the weight is another clue as another poster,,, maybe one of the two I mentioned,,said is correct.

Amber has a specific gravity of somewhere around 1.02 to as high as 1.10.
Clue,,, water is 1.0 specific gravity.

The surest way is the heat test.

I am in Pennsylvania also and have never seen any Amber in the "wild" here.

Here are a couple links that might help you.

A Gem of a Mineral Collection

Geographic Occurrence of Amber
and
https://books.google.com/books?id=A...ge&q=Amber collecting in Pennsylvania&f=false

Sayerville, New Jersey seems to be the closest occurrence of this FOSSIL material.

Hope this helps and good luck

 

[Antje]

Yes, I did say I was not arguing with anyone.

 

[loco oro]

I agree those are quartz or quartzite . Quartz is also pretty tough stuff and amber doesnt even come close so a little lite scuffing on amber with sand paper will produce clear and evident scuffing whereas quartz/quarzite will require some seriuos effort.by the way what region of pa i am located in central pa .and the " tuscarura quartzite that caps almost all of the ridge and valley regions of pa has that rusty/orangish color and is extremly hard and is found any where you look in this region .feel free to pm me for any info you may need about pa keep digging and finding