Ants in her pants

[Don]

I did a show earlier this month and was wrapping to pass the time during the slow times. Well a woman saw me wrapping and walked up to me, says "I have a project for you" and pulls out a piece of amber from her pocket that contained a large ant. We negotiated a price on wrapping the stone and an hour later I had it all finished up in gold fill wire ready to pick up. I was very happy with how it turned out and was able to snap a few phone pics before the client came over to pick it up.

She wanted to know if I thought it was real amber, and I told her that I had no idea, but it sure looked great regardless. She said that she purchased the stone in Russia while visiting there. Anyone know how to test amber for authenticity?

Here's the pic:

[rockjunquie]

Very nice! If that is real, it probably cost a pretty penny. Testing amber is pretty easy, just google it. You can do the pin test which is destructive, but usually you can rub it real fast and hard on your pants or what not and quickly smell it. You can then determine by smell what it might be (to a point). Find more online.

[Bikerrandy]

Yep, it should smell like a pine tree. A piece like that would be pricey for sure.

[upsided0wnducks]

If it's fake, smells like plastic, real smells like pine like Randy said

Krista

[Sabre52]

Could be real amber but melted to include the ant and recast. This faked fossil in amber thingee is a cottage industry in some areas of the world. I'd say that is a definite fake because ancient insects in amber are usually bleached out to a monotone and have no color Plus the ant looks posed and too good to be true *L*....Mel

[hubrocks]

That's one in a million if it's real, and pretty cool looking if it's not.!! One thing for sure is that the wrap is real, real pretty!...........Hub

[gerard]

If you don't want to test with a hot needle, Amber will float in a cup of coke the fake stuff will not.