Lawsuits Over Counterfeit Amber
At the Spring 2006 Amber Fair in Gdansk Poland, the news circulated that there are suddenly lawsuits in the United States against sellers of and manufacturers of jewelry that has been manufactured with imitation or counterfeit amber. In some cases designs made by well-known Polish amber and silver jewelry manufacturers have been counterfeited by pirates who have used those designs and undercut prices by the legitimate amber and silver jewelry manufacturers, or original designer, by using imitation amber as the setting in the jewelry.
Those amber and silver jewelry buyers, who have been buying amber mainly by focusing on price, have learned that low-priced amber, in many, if not all cases, is low price because it is manufactured with amber resins instead or real amber.
Consumers and retailers are now taking to the courts for compensation.
Amber is a precious stone that is dredged from where ancient pine trees were buried and the resins exuded by these pine trees was petrified. The price of amber is currently approximately twice the price of silver. And like silver, the price of amber is not lower than the market price.
Authentic amber is a petrified resin and by its nature comes in many colors and will most often have many inclusions or imperfections. Counterfeit amber and amber resins, conversely, are generally Brandy in color and very clear. One can typically see as an example of an amber resins the large amber beads that are used to make up necklaces often purchased in tourist traps in Europe. See pictures of natrual and amber resin here. Amber Natural And Resin
There is no test that can guarantee you with 100 percent assurance that the amber product that you are buying is one natural amber. You can however look for warning signs when buying amber.
If the price of the amber is low compared to the general market price of amber products quoted by the factories in Gdansk Poland, it is very likely that the amber is imitation.
There is no guarantee, however, that even price is a good benchmark because some buyers may get good prices on products if they purchase amber and silver jewelry in huge in huge quantities. So the price benchmark is only a guideline to be used as a warning.
You can also become cautious when you see that the amber piece has large, uniformly shape, Brandy colored amber that is clear with no inclusions. You just do not find this too often in nature. To see a comparison between natural amber and an amber resin, go to the website did you find at.
One safe method to assure yourself that you are getting a real amber product from the amber designer that made the original design, is to buy amber from a company displays the Amber Guild seal that you can see at this page. Amber Seal
Additionally you can buy a amber that is Mazovian Brand approved, by the Warsaw Amber Center in Warsaw, Poland. Information about Mazovian Brand amber is that this link. Mazovian Amber
