Dominican amber
Organic gem
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
Clear amber from the Dominican Republic, roughly 15 to 25 million years old and famous for well-preserved insects. Some shows a blue glow in daylight and a strong blue under UV.
- 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, orange, red, blue
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent, opaque
- Cleavage and fracture
- none; conchoidal fracture
- Under UV light
- usually bluish white under longwave UV; blue amber glows strongly blue
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.