10-20-2016 07:07 PM
Hi Everyone, hope all are well and healthy !
Amber is just not my strong area.
Picked this up this week at a TS, I haven't tested it with saltwater and my UV light has gone missing.
10-20-2016 08:43 PM
Cali - I tried to check out this vague recollection I have but came up empty and am limited on time - something about "sick plastic" , damage due to age.im pretty sure I read something about this some time ago - but all i found just now was stuff about micro beads messing with ocean critters. Sorry I can't pursue more
10-20-2016 09:01 PM
Thank you Diane. I have actually had a necklace that has the 'sick plastic' coating on it, it's like thin pieces of shellac or crackling that appears on some faux amber beads. I had posted about it here a year or two ago.
This doesn't have that coating, it's just one of the whiter areas can be scratched and it's slightly powdery, hard to explain.
10-21-2016 12:27 PM - edited 10-21-2016 12:30 PM
Hi Cali
To me this looks like amber. Very nice! Amber often chips just like glass and whitish powder is a good sign too.
Best wishes
Arlene
10-25-2016 02:47 PM
Can you scratch a little and see if it smells like pine?
10-26-2016 09:43 AM
Maybe put the beads in a zippy bag and run the bag under warm water and see what they smell like.
10-26-2016 11:47 AM
They sure do look like amber! And the fact that the beads each have their own characteristics would seem promising...nothing mass produced looking to them at all.
What's the weight?
I've been watching a few amber auctions on ebay (still trying to get my mind wrapped around what makes one so much more desirable than another)...watched one strand sell three different times, each time at a progressively lower price, and I just can't figure out what that was about!
I agree with OCN, put them into a baggie and run them under hot hot water. There should be a nice pine smell that comes from that.
10-26-2016 12:29 PM
A Google search "egg yolk amber beads" found this old ebay forum topic:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Fine-Jewelry-Gems/egg-yolk-amber-beads/td-p/2649684
10-26-2016 02:35 PM
10-26-2016 03:06 PM
My unconventional test for Amber is to rub the surface slowly with my thumb. To my touch Amber is smooth with a resistance not exactly but somewhat like silicone. Plastic is slicker.