Nowadays, there are lot’s of fake plastic amber imitations which may look exactly as amber, but with out all the beneficial properties of real amber.

ErmArt gives you few tips to test how real is your amber.

We won’t recommend you to carry out all the mentioned tests as you may damage your amber gems.

• Real amber had a hardness of 2-2.5 on the Moh’s scale. Try to scratch the amber with your fingernail. If you can scratch the specimen with your fingernail, it is not amber.

• Drop a finger nail polish remover on the amber item and if it will soften it’s not amber.

• Amber floats in salt water. Dissolve two tablespoons salt in a glass of warm water. Amber should float in such a mixture and various plastics sink.

• Use a hot needle to try melting a tiny hole. If the needle pushes easily into the piece and has a piney, sweet and pleasant smell, it is amber, if it has an acrid smell, and melts easily, it is plastic. Also amber burns with a black smoke.

• Amber does not melt. It will burn away like incense and it has been used for centuries as incense. The plastic will release a horrible chemical smell upon burning, while copal may release a smell similar to that of amber.

• Natural amber, when brakes, looks similar to chipped glass.