Amber is a fossil resin( Eocene epoch,Tertiary age, 30-54 mio years ago).
Small vertebrates, insects, part of plants - all what had contact to fresh
resin from the tree is included .
Pinites succinifer is called a group of conifers which was producing that specific
resin that turned to amber.
Well known is the Baltic Amber from the coast of the Baltic countries.
This Baltic amber is also found at the Danish coast, The Netherlands ,Germany
and England.
An amber collection has not to be very expensive .
The standards (midges,flies,ants etc.) in a small piece of amber are available at
about $ 20.00, but, naturally, depending on the rareness of inclusion the prices are
going higher and can reach easily a several thousand of $ per piece.
What you need to start with is a 10-time magnifying glass , or a stereomicroscope
and a lamp.
Amber can easily be inflamed - as the german name " Bernstein" means
burning stone. It has a light flame when burning and smells like fresh conifer resin.
Most of the amber has a light- to golden-yellow color , redish or red colors can be
found too. Milky amber is of light-yellow to white color. The differences in color are a
result of the number of airbubbles per sqare inch. White colored amber has about a few
hundred thousands of airbubbles , clear amber only 300-400.
The weight of amber is lightly heavier than water, so that it swims in salt water.
Its hardness is about 2-3 (Mohs scala) that makes it easy to work with.
