Amber Jewelry

Today, there is a very limited demand for amber in jewelry, although it is still being made up into bead necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, cigar and cigarette holders and pipe mouthpieces. In China, it is used in the making of certain medicines, perfumes, and incenses. We have already noted that amber is valuable as a commercial varnish since it yields a product which offers a stout resistance to the atmosphere, but unfortunately its expense prevents its general use. Amber is often found in the shops with diamond engagement ring.

Amber may be bought in every country of the globe, but the purchaser should beware of buying imitations or compressed amber for the genuine material. Travelers and tourists in the near East, and even in Ceylon, India, and China, have frequently paid heavily for strings of "amber" which are nothing more than colored compressed amber or even good imitations in Bakelite.

A good test for block amber is the application of a knife to the surface; if a bead, to the drilled hole. Amber chips quite easily, and the chips will fly off if pressure is applied with a knife. Most other substances used to imitate amber, except compressed amber, will pare without breaking. Glass, of course, will not be touched with a knife. Large, perfectly colored, and faultless specimens should always be examined before purchasing as much of the so-called Chinese or Persian amber are fakes, sometimes sold in ignorance. Many are not easy to detect at a glance, except glass, which is colder to the touch, heavier, and harder than amber. Celluloid, another imitation, gives off a smell of camphor when rubbed, and it also develops very little electricity. It is also quickly attacked by sulphuric ether, while amber is not immediately affected.