Baltic amber
Organic gem
Also called Succinite
Take care.
- Sensitive to heat: Keep it away from heat and sudden changes of temperature, including hot lights and ultrasonic cleaners.
- Fades or changes in light: Keep it in the dark, out of sunlight and bright display lights.
About it
Amber from the Baltic coast, mostly mined near Kaliningrad, Russia, and washed up on the shores of Poland and Lithuania. About 40 million years old and rich in succinic acid; cloudy "bone" amber is full of tiny bubbles.
- Type
- Organic gem
- Group
- Fossil resin
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2–2.5
- Specific gravity
- 1.05–1.1
- Streak
- white
- Lustre
- resinous
- Crystal system
- Amorphous (no crystal structure)
- Colours
- yellow, honey, cognac, cloudy white
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent, opaque
- Cleavage and fracture
- none; conchoidal fracture
- Under UV light
- usually bluish white or yellowish under longwave UV
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.