Copal Amber

I went to this year's Tucson Gem Show with a few things on my list, and one was the word "yellow". Specifically, I was looking for "the yellow" from Pantone's 2012 list: Solar Power.

I was standing at one of my regular bead vendors when I saw it across the corridor. I made a bee line and grabbed a hank and said "is this amber"? "Copal Amber" was the answer. What I knew was that it was gorgeous! Exactly what I wanted!

Back home I figured I better figure out what Copal Amber was. I knew one thing ... if it was real amber, I wouldn't have spent as little as I did. I also knew it was light and lovely -- but it was clearly natural -- not some sort of man made fake amber. (Not to mention that the seller was VERY reputable.)

So ... according to academicemporia.edu:, (and everything else I read):

Amber:

Amber is a fossilized resin, not tree sap. Sap is the fluid that circulates through a plant's vascular system, while resin is the semi-solid amorphous organic substance secreted in pockets and canals through epithelial cells of the plant. Land plant resins are complex mixtures of mono-, sesqui-, di-, and triterpenoids, which have structures based on linked isoprene C₅H₈ units ****

Therefore Amber is formed as a result of the fossilization of resin that that takes millions of years and involves a progressive oxidation and polymerization of the original organic compounds, oxygenated hydrocarbons. Although a specific time interval has not been established for this process, the majority of amber is found within Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentary rocks(approximately 30-90 million years old).

On the other hand,

Copal Amber:

Copal Amber is not the fossilized, hardened resin that is known as amber, but rather an immature recent resin. Confusion is inevitable. "The oldest known substitute for amber is copal, a resin which is very similar in appearance" , but Copal is not many millions but many thousands of years old.

Okay .... so in a few million years it will be amber -- I can live with that. Right now it is gorgeous, and beautiful. (and affordable!)