Baltic Amber Jewelry Versus Copal
Many people who buy an amber bangle, a beaded necklace or a piece of Baltic amber jewelry are looking to wear it for medicinal purposes – to ease pain, to calm, to boost their immune system, to center their energy. If this is the case, then it’s very important to choose genuine Baltic amber. Why? Because all amber isn’t equal, and that’s not just a marketing gimmick to boost Russian and Polish amber sales. In fact, aside from the many kinds of amber there’s also a resinous stone that looks very similar called Copal.
Like amber, copal is also a resin that’s derived from semi-hardened plant and tree sap, and is especially aromatic. It’s famed throughout Asia and the Americas primarily for it’s wonderful fragrance, used for burning as incense. It’s a resin with a long and rich history from Mexico, Central America and a products that affected trade between East Africa and Europe. Aside from being used as an aromatic incense, it’s also prized as a natural varnish, and is mined in such diverse places as Madagascar, Columbia, the Dominican Republic, Japan and New Zealand. However, it’s not true amber because it hasn’t reached the hardened state. It’s considered to be only about 200 years old, in other words, it’s very young or immature amber.
Why does this matter if you’re looking for an amber bangle to soothe arthritic pain or a teething necklace for your baby? It matters because, young amber, or copal, doesn’t have succinic acid, and that’s the particular ingredient that makes amber have soothing and pain relieving properties. Only Baltic amber jewelry is high in succinic acid, about 3 to 8 percent, and is found in the hardest, or oldest pieces, in those that are pale in color and somewhat opaque.
If you’re buying a beaded amber bangle bracelet or a teething necklace, or any kind of amber jewelry for medicinal purposes, don’t buy copal or amber that’s highly aromatic from Asia or the Americas, because while it may look like amber, smell like amber, feel like amber and have inclusions, it’s not genuine Baltic amber at all.
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