AMBER
Amber comes in a variety of shapes. The surface and interior of the amber often retain the grooves created by the flow of resin.
Common amber species: gold, gold, blue, green, black, blood, silver, brown, blue, green, insect, beeswax, pearl, Burmese root, etc.
On March 6, 2016, Chinese scientists discovered the world's oldest amber ore, which is about 99 million years old.
Reasons for the formation
In ancient China, amber was once known as amber, yukon pei, beast spirit, seeks, Jiang Zhu, qin yu, "" tiger pure spirit into the ground into a stone", or that amber is tiger shed tears, these contains the ancient Chinese legend of amber speculation and pursue, suggests that people think of amber, town houses and avoid the function of nerves.
And in the eyes of the ancient emperors, amber also has a special significance, according to the records, "the emperor chaozhu miscellaneous ornaments for the temple of heaven with lapis lazuli, earth altar with amber, altar with coral, moon altar with turquoise.
Amber is the Mesozoic cretaceous to Cenozoic tertiary pine cypress resin, formed by geological processes and organic mixture.The formation of amber generally has three stages, the first stage is the resin secreted from the cypress pine tree, the second stage is the resin is buried deep, and petrification, resin composition, structure and characteristics have changed significantly;The third stage is when the petrochemical resin is scoured, transported, deposited and diagenically formed into amber.
Morphological characteristics
Amorphous, often tuberculous shape, tumor shape, small drop shape and so on production.Some, like the rings of a tree, have a radial texture;May contain animal remains, plant fragments, etc.
The hardness of amber is low, texture light, astringent, moist, gem - like luster and crystal, amber is another characteristic is containing particularly rich inclusions, such as insects, plants, minerals and so on.
Amber characteristics
The ecological environment
It is mainly distributed in cretaceous and tertiary sandstone and coal bed sediments.
Harvest storage
After digging out from the stratum or coal seam, remove sand, stone, soil and other impurities.Light and easy to store, perfect amber is highly collectable.
Animal and plant morphology
More irregular granule, block, milk and loose granule.Sometimes it contains fossils of plants or insects.The colors are yellow, tan and red and yellow.Streaks white or light yellow.It has a resin sheen.Transparent to opaque.The fracture shell shape is very significant, hardness 2 ~ 2.5, specific gravity 1.05 ~ 1.09.Sex is extremely fragile.Friction electrification.
The origin of a product distribution
Baltic states (such as Russia, Poland), Burma, Dominican republic, China, Mexico.
China's distribution
Mainly produced in liaoning, henan, guangxi, guizhou, yunnan, zhejiang, chun 'an qiandao lake, jilin hunchun and other places.
In 2011, when exploring the thousand-year-old city at the bottom of qiandao lake, a large amount of amber was found.Amber has also been found in several high mountains around qiandao lake.
Basic properties
Chemical composition
Chemical molecular formula C10H16O, also contains a small amount of hydrogen sulfide, trace elements such as aluminum, magnesium, calcium, silicon.
Amber mainly contains resin, volatile oil.Succoxyabietic acid, Succinoabietinolic acid, Succinosilvic acid.
Succinoresinol, Succinic acid and Succinic acid.
Optical properties of
(1) color: yellow, honey yellow, yellow brown, brown, light red brown, light red, light green, brown, different colors, fascinating.
(2) transparency and luster: transparent, micro transparent, resin luster.
(3) optical property: complete extinction under orthogonal microscope.
(4) refractive index: 1.54.
(5) luminescence: blue, light yellow and light green fluorescence under uva.
The mechanical properties
(1) cleavage and fracture: no cleavage, shell-like fracture.
(2) hardness: 2-3, generally 2.5.
(3) density: 1.08g/cm3, which can float in saturated salt solution.
Internal characteristics
It's pretty common.There are mainly: plant debris, small animals (such as insects, beetles, spiders, mosquitoes, flies, ants, etc.), bubbles, cracks, swirls and so on.
Other features
(1) electrical characteristics: amber is a good insulator. It is charged by hard friction and can absorb small pieces of paper.
(2) thermal conductivity: poor, warm feeling, softening after heating, loose fragrance near fire.
(3) solubility: soluble in sulfuric acid and hot nitric acid.
Amber history
Born 40 to 60 million years ago, amber belongs to what is geologically known as the Eocene. It is a fossil of the precious pine resin that has undergone the compression of the earth's rock layers under high pressure and heat.Amber belongs to non - crystalline organic semi-precious stone, exquisite light, touch moist delicate.
Most amber is transparent and has a variety of colors. Yellow is the most common, but also red, green and very rare blue.Amber, the ancient Chinese called "legacy" jade, the legend is the soul of the tiger, so called "amber".
Amber has been regarded as a precious treasure since ancient times, because it comes from pine resin, and pine trees symbolize longevity in China.Some amber need not ignite combustion, just a little touch, can release a charming rosin breath, with the effect of the quality of calm god, is widely made religious utensils.Since ancient times, Chinese people have been fond of the fragrance of pine, and regarded amber and Ambergris as precious spices.
According to the tang dynasty's "notes on xijing", zhao feiyan, the empress of emperor cheng of the han dynasty, used amber pillows to absorb the fragrance.After 1600 BC, the inhabitants of the Baltic sea traded tin and amber with their tribes in the south for copper weapons and other tools.In 2000 BC, the mescene, Phoenician and Etruscan people in central Europe jointly formed an amber business network (note: Etruria is an ancient country in western Italy).
At the same time, the Baltic sea amber spread to the east coast of the Mediterranean through the Aegean sea.Archaeologists have unearthed bottles and jugs from the ancient Greek Mycenaean civilization in Syria, and found amber necklaces from the Baltic sea in the containers.In the fifth century AD, the Romans set out to search for amber in the Baltic sea.In the middle ages, Baltic amber was popular for religious purposes.In the east, amber was also cherished by various peoples, especially arabs, persians, turks and Chinese.
The earliest recorded fossil resin is from the carboniferous period, but amber did not appear until the early cretaceous.The famous amber deposits come from Burma, the Baltic region and the Dominican republic.Amber is mainly the resin of the ancient gymnosperms, but has the gum produced by flowering plants.
Amber in the Baltic sea sometimes contains the remains of insects or plants.It is speculated that the amber may have formed in the forests of Pinus succinifera, a primeval pine tree species.Holocene semi-fossil hard resins differ from amber in that they melt in organic solutions.
The color is generally yellow red tone, transparent to translucent.Amber softens at 150℃.High - quality amber can be processed into handicrafts, quality can be used as chemical materials.Amber belongs to the product of sedimentation, mainly produced in cretaceous or tertiary sandstone, coal bed sediments.China liaoning fushun, henan xixia rich in amber.
Amber is tertiary pine cypress resin, buried underground by geological action, after a very long geological period, resin lost volatile components and polymerization, solidification to form amber.It often accompanies coal seams.Amber is a hydrocarbon, containing succinic acid and amber resin, chemical composition CHO, which is 79% carbon, 10.5% hydrogen, 10.5% oxygen, and sometimes contains a small amount of hydrogen sulfide.The shape of amber is more like cake, kidney, tumor, elongated water droplets and other irregular shape.It is an amorphous body.
Most of the colors are yellow, orange, brown, brownish-yellow or dark red.Grease luster, transparent to translucent.Refractive index 1.539 ~ 1.545, no multicolor.Hardness 2 ~ 3, density 1.1 ~ 1.16g/cm3.Brittle, no cleavage, with shell - shaped fracture.
Amber for organic matter, heating to 150℃ that is softening, 250℃ ~ 300℃ melting, emitting a fragrant rosin smell.Amber dissolves in alcohol.Often contains insects, seeds, and other inclusions.
Resins are collected commercially, such as hard resins from New Zealand's kauri pine.The Baltic amber is kept by jewellery, while the hard resin is used in the decoration industry.
Spencer et al. conducted a comprehensive re-study of these New Zealand copa resins based on samples provided by the gemstone society of New Zealand and samples obtained from New Zealand coal mines.In his research, the most significant gemological findings showed that the ethyl ether identifying koba and amber described in classic gemological books was actually not ideal for Kauri resin, that is, some Kauri koba resin was actually not soluble or only slightly soluble in ether.
A drop of ethyl ether was applied to the insoluble coppa resin for 30 seconds without reaction or slight reaction;However, a drop of alcohol on these New Zealand coba resins (including 25Ma resin), after 30 seconds, all appeared to dissolve in alcohol: the surface became sticky or opaque, while the real amber drops of alcohol did not react at all, indicating that it was insoluble in alcohol.
Copa resin in glacial acetic acid is also easy to produce a similar dissolution reaction to alcohol, but glacial acetic acid can produce a pungent smell and may cause burns to human body, so it is not suitable to be used as gemological test method.In addition, his test also showed that the reaction of natural corba resin under ultraviolet fluorescence is unstable, which is difficult to be used as a basis for the identification of amber and corba resin.
Modern research editor
Chinese scientists discovered the world's oldest known amber ore on Tuesday, March 6, 2016.Studies have shown that it is about 99 million years old.The findings were published in the international academic journal science in the loss of secrets in ancient amber.
This amber ore, found and produced in Burma, is known as "Burmese amber".The team's next step is to focus on detailed studies of specific plants and insects contained in the amber ore, such as the origin and evolution of biological groups, as well as DNA extraction and genome sequencing of certain samples.
On July 19, 2018, a team of scientists from China, Canada, the United States and Australia announced that they had found a snake specimen in amber for the first time and revealed a previously unknown species, a 990-million-year-old small snake named xiao snake of myanmar.
According to the different colors and characteristics of amber, the varieties of amber in China are gold, blood, insect, fragrant, stone, flower, water, Ming, wax, blood, honey wax, red resin, etc., among which there is no clear definition.
The worm and the limper, for example, should be considered a species, both referring to amber containing animal remains.Flower per refers to the artificial exploder process of amber, which should pay attention to, pressing amber bubble flower is particularly fine, disorderly, muddy background.Blood honey wax refers to opaque amber, "millennium amber, millennium wax" is false.Perfume is to point to the blood beeswax with apparent fragrance after rub, because the processing degree of beeswax is normally small, so fragrance is full-bodied.The hypo is an amber containing water droplets, also known as water bile amber.
The more valuable items in the amber are antiques, fine art or biological remains.Amber's economic value depends on its clarity, shape, size and color.Color concentration, and impurity is not much better.The colors are blue, green and red, but green amber was found in places like dominica, Mexico and fushun, China, and Baltic green perdor was caused by chemicals that were exposed to high temperatures.
Transparent blood perps are mostly caused by high temperature baking color, natural blood perps will have visible inclusions.In general, color concentration is usually accompanied by a small amount of visible impurities, one theory is that the small inclusions are the color factor of amber, which is also from this.The most valuable species is the amber containing insects, commonly known as "amber Tibet bee", with clear insects, lifelike shape, quality of quality, large individual, quantity is the best.
category
Classification of amber origin
Baltic amber (Ukraine, Russia, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Germany)
Mexican amber
Brazil's amber
The amber
Dominican amber
Fushun amber
Hunchun amber (low yield)
The category classification
Opaque amber, traditionally known as "secret wax," is also known by other names:
Old honey - refers to the age of the opaque amber, red orange.
Hemopper - blood red amber.The colour is the colour of a fine red wine.Red as blood is the best of amber.
Bonpo - white amber.
Kimper - a golden transparent amber.
Beeswax -- translucent to opaque, can show all sorts of color, wait for yellow with golden yellow, palm yellow, egg yellow for the most general, have wax shape feeling, burnish has wax shape -- colophony burnish, also have those who show vitreous burnish.
Tangles of gold - when transparent gold and translucent beeswax become entangled, they form a yellow amber with a tangled pattern.
Amber - amber with fragrance.
Worm - amber containing the remains of plants and animals.Among them with amber Tibet bee, amber Tibet mosquito, amber Tibet fly is relatively precious.
Stone - refers to a degree of fossilization of amber, hardness than other.
Blood wax - translucent to opaque, natural, no optimization and red, waxy feeling, shiny waxy.
Hopper - a variety of uneven colors of amber.
Raw ore - ore produced without dressing or other processing.
Lampo - a light yellow color in the Dominican republic, a blue amber on a sunlit surface.
Blue and green pere-mexico has a greenish/bluish color similar to the Dominican republic's green perot.
Yellow honey -- a yellow beeswax.
Half honey, half pearl -- also known as pearl or egg honey -- is the opaque wax wrapped in clear amber.
White honey -- a white wax.
Blister - amber hollow, containing moisture amber.It is very rare and precious amber.
Pearl - a type of amber that appears black when viewed vertically with the naked eye and bright red when exposed to light.
Stone - yellow transparent, petrochemical degree of higher hardness of amber.
Identification method
The criterion that identifies amber is its quality of a material is firm, do not have crack and color beautiful.The most precious amber is diaphaneity is taller contain insect, depend on the clarity of insect, configuration and size and have class distinction, the amber that has insect is used at making ring face stone and bosom fall, value is very high, class best can be listed as gem.Yellow and red amber is the best.And crack is more, quality of a material is softer, color is dim, or color and general stone color is similar amber, without use value.
Eliminating the false and preserving the true is the primary purpose of identifying amber and other jewelry and jade.Therefore, it is particularly important to understand the characteristics of genuine amber and its imitations.There are several main types of imitations: glass, plastic, resin (resin that is not old enough, such as copa resin) and synthetic.Imitations are called imitations because they mimic some of the characteristics of the real thing, and they look and feel like the real thing, so that inexperienced people mistake them for the real thing.
Amber is an organic gem that is warm and light to the touch, which makes it distinguishable from glass.Blocks of natural amber float in salt water and sink in clear water.Natural amber has a special smell -- when rubbed, heated, or burned, it gives off a pleasant resinous smell, a basic quality that helps identify amber.
It can also be identified by scraping the surface of a sample - scraping the surface of natural amber produces fine powder, while scraping the surface of a plastic imitation produces a spiral scratch.Natural amber powders more easily than artificial resin blocks.If there are large, rare and valuable inclusions in amber, it is likely to be imitation.One of the characteristics of optimized amber, including those containing imitations of amber, is that they have only a bright color on the surface and almost no color on the inside.Amber is very valuable -- if its price is much lower than the prevailing market price, we must be aware that it may be an imitation.
Natural amber reacts poorly to diethyl ether and various solvents, and imitations made of coppa resin react to diethyl ether and acetone (nail polish minus polish).The surface will become dull and sticky in a short time.
Coppa resin has a strong fragrance.When a hot needle touches copa resin, it melts and sticks to the needle to form a long "line".Products made from copa resin produce very small, deep hair-like cracks when exposed to sunlight and air.
Experiment: natural amber is so light that it sinks to the bottom when you put it in water.But you needn't worry.You add the dissolved brine to it, and when the salt concentration is greater than 1:4 (1 part salt, 4 parts water) the real amber will slowly float, while the fake amber will not float.
2. Sound: uninlaid amber chains or beads make a soft and slightly dull sound when gently rubbed in the hand.If the sound of plastic or resin will be more clear.
3. Incense: the amber raw stone without fine grinding can smell a light special aroma after kneading with hands to generate heat. The aroma of white beeswax is slightly heavier than that of other ordinary amber, so it is called "fragrant pearl".Generally speaking, it is difficult to smell the fragrance of amber after manual fine polishing or carving.
4. Eye observation: this is a trick to identify genuine and fake amber.The texture, color, transparency, and refractive index of real amber vary with the Angle of view and illumination.It's a feeling that no other substance has.Just as we can identify real and fake people, for example, superb artists can create lifelike waxworks of people, "fake and real" is just talk, no matter how good waxworks can escape our eyes.Amber transparent but very moist, not like glass, crystal, diamond as transparent ground.Fake amber is either very transparent or opaque, the color is dead, hair false.Fake amber inside the artificial production is very harsh, will feel is a dead cold light.
5. Ultraviolet irradiation: put amber under the detector, it will have fluorescence, light green, green, blue, white, etc.Plastic fake amber does not change color.
7.Hand feel: amber is a neutral gem, generally will not be too cold and overheating.And glass imitation will have a cooler feeling.
8. Heat test: burn the needle to the inconspicuous part of amber with a light rosin taste.Bakeries and plastics give off pungent odors and stick to needles.(friendly reminder: too hot will leave black spots on the surface of amber, affecting the appearance)
9 knife cutting needle pick test: cutting paper knife cutting amber will become powder, resin will become a block off, plastic will be rolled into pieces, glass is cut.With a hard needle and the horizontal line of 20 ~ 30 degrees Angle thorn amber will have a sense of explosion and very small powder slag, if the hardness of different plastic or other substances, or is not moving, or very sticky feeling or even into the hole.(a word of caution: this test may cause damage to your jewelry, and any cut or cut must be repaired by a professional. It is best to do little or nothing to avoid damage to the amber.)
10. Nail polish remover: repeatedly rub the amber surface with cotton swab, no obvious change.Neither the plastic nor the press nor the amber had changed, but the resin and copal, which had not been petrified, would have corroded and formed sticky pits.(friendship remind: some amber outside a layer of light material, in the liquid medicine wipe will become white spots, but this layer of white spots can refer to carapace scraping to reveal the amber surface, the liquid medicine wipe above it will not have any change.The liquid will still have 18% ~ 20% melting degree to amber, the surface may become foggy after soaking for a long time.
11. Eye scale: this is the main method of amber Mosaic identification.Explode the lotus leaf scale that there is beautiful commonly in flower amber, look it to have different feeling from different Angle, fold luminosity also won't be same, send out the light that gives intelligence.Fake amber transparency is generally not high, scales emit dead light, different angles are the same scene, the lack of amber aura.The scale in false amber and decorative pattern are injected more, so be mostly same, the most common in market is red scale.
12. Eye observation of bubbles: bubbles in amber are mostly round, while bubbles in pressed amber are mostly oblate.
The best test method: eye view, feel, salt water, other methods more or less even measured amber is true will cause some damage to amber, above identification method can not be used alone, using a variety of test methods layer upon layer separation method.
Note: there are also remanufactured amber also known as pressed amber, amber melting.Amber is the raw stone of whole grains of amber, but the reconstituted amber is made from processed amber scraps or too small raw materials sintered at the right temperature and pressure to form large pieces of amber.The amber is distinguished by its syrupy agitators, which magnify to reveal a blood-like structure.
Chemical identification
(1) amber is easy to melt, slightly black smoke, just out of white smoke, slightly pine aroma.The black smoke of burning coal, the white smoke when it was just extinguished, has a smell like kerosene.
(2) spectroscopic determination 1g of amber and rosin samples were soaked in 10ml petroleum ether (60 ~ 90 ° c) for 4h, and filtered. The filtrate was diluted with petroleum ether to 0.1 ~ 1mg per 1ml of the drug. The absorption peak of amber was 228nm, while that of rosin was 242nm and 251nm.
(3) X-ray diffraction analysis of amber is amorphous, so there is no X-ray diffraction reflection.
(4) differential thermal analysis curve amber curve has no clear peak, valley and missing focus, and is more complex than that of coal: heat absorption 100 ~ 110℃ (small, wide), 370℃ (small), 515℃ (medium), 645℃ (large).From about 50℃ to 480℃, it lost weight rapidly, accounting for 85% of the sample weight.From 480 to 750℃, weight loss was slow, accounting for 25% of the sample.That is, heat volatilization, high temperature (-800℃) all volatilization.
The characteristics of thermal analysis curve of coal per are: heat absorption 390℃ double valley (middle), 465℃ (middle).Exothermic temperature: 493℃ (small), 605℃ (medium);There are three sections of weightlessness, namely, the section between 390℃ and shuanggu, the section between 465℃ and the section between 456 ~ 605℃.These characteristics are related to the C: H: O ratio.
Medicinal value
The first recorded use of amber dates back to ancient times.At that time, the main ingredients of medicines came from natural minerals, such as plants, animals and minerals.The original recipe for "Nicolaus Copernicus" kept in Sweden lists 22 ingredients, including amber.Albert the great (1193 ~ 1280, dominicans, philosopher) ranked amber first among the six most effective medicines.
During the plague of the middle ages, smoke from burning amber was used as a way to prevent it.According to Mattaus Praetorius, "not a single amber practitioner from GDANSK, KLAIPEDA, KONIGSBERG or LIEPAJA died of the plague".Amber is still used in incense therapy today.For centuries, amber was thought to be a disinfectant because it was used to make baby pacifiers, spoons, cigarette holders and tobacco pipes.They also found tea canisters made of amber in the 17th century.
Russians use succinic acid as an important anti-alcohol drug to reduce their addiction to alcohol.
The earliest records of the medicinal use of amber date back to ancient times.The earliest medicine used only ingredients that could be obtained from nature: plants, animals, and minerals.
Amber is of great interest because of its electromagnetism.
Scholars disagree about the origin of amber medicine.Some think it was in ancient Egypt, others think it was ancient Greek doctors.Blocks of amber found under the skin of the pharaoh's mummy prove that the ancient egyptians knew how to use amber as a medicine to prevent bacteria from invading the pharaoh's body.
The earliest written account of the medicinal properties of amber comes from the writings of Hippocrates (460 to 377 BC), the father of medicine."Wearing a string of amber beads with a thin belt or string tightly around the neck has been shown to relieve pain in cases of severe headaches, laryngitis, and neck pain.Wearing an amber bracelet is good for patients with rheumatism and arthritis, and can reduce fatigue and fatigue.A similar effect can be achieved by rubbing a fairly large block of amber against the body."
In the middle ages, physicians in Europe prescribed amber for ulcers, migraines, insomnia, food poisoning, jaundice, infertility, malaria, asthma, phthisis, tumors, and other diseases.In tsarist Russia, amber necklaces were thought to keep pain away from both the baby and the baby.In Germany, children wear amber necklaces so they can grow strong, healthy teeth without pain.In 19th century medicine books, we can almost find references to amber as a treatment for various diseases.
With amber the sesame oil that gives priority to raw material, balm, still have the infusion that puts amber into alcohol bubble to come out can use external apply.Various compounds with amber as the main ingredient are also widely used in the treatment of hyperthyroidism, respiratory diseases, bronchitis, asthma, heart disease, high blood pressure, bladder and gastrointestinal diseases and some diseases in the blood circulation system.
It is believed that the more succinic acid in the drug, the better.An original formula made by nicola Copernicus with 22 ingredients, including amber, is kept in Sweden.
G. gricola, a famous mineralogist and physician in the 15th century, used dry distillation to extract succinic acid.Dry distillation (by heating the amber in a vacuum) breaks it down into acids, oils and rosin, all of which are particularly valuable and beneficial.
Scientifically measured, amber contains 3 to 8 percent succinic acid, a medicinal ingredient used in modern medicine.Succinic acid is concentrated in the skin, the outermost layer of amber ore.Therefore, raw amber ore, unpeeled or lightly skinned amber products (necklaces, bracelets and pendants) can be used for treatment and sterilization.
The latest scientific research proves that succinic acid has positive effects on human organs.It boosts immunity, energizes and maintains an acid balance in the body.Modern bacteriology advocate careful analysis have been carried out to succinic acid: of the 1886 Nobel Prize winner, German bacteriologist Robert Koch affirmation of the positive effect of succinic acid, he found that the accumulation of succinic acid residue in the body will not bring any negative effects, and even clothing into the excess of succinic acid is harmless.
In today's society, where natural medicine is prized, the use of amber as a component of medicines and cosmetics has become more common.In particular, more than 10 kinds of effective drugs containing succinic acid are manufactured and patented in the United States and Russia.Succinic acid has specific medicinal properties against cell aging in the human body. It is used as a potassium inhibitor (slowing or stopping) and an antioxidant.After scientific analysis, succinic acid can be called the modern youth elixir.Succinic acid is of great value to athletes.
It is the harmonious agent that balanced body function develops in the round.Succinic acid, an essential food ingredient, has been found in other plants.But because it is so hard to find in nature, succinic acid is often lacking.Even high-acid, immature mulberry, carrot and rhubarb stems contained 1,000 times less acid than Baltic amber.
Interestingly, succinic acid cannot be found in any resin that resembles amber.What's even more interesting is that amber is produced in many parts of the world, but nowhere is it as high as in the Baltic sea.
Succinic acid is crystallized by dry distillation and can be dissolved easily in warm water.So it can be used as a food additive.Succinic acid has the effect of stimulating the development and normal function of human organs (the most common calcium succinic acid, potassium succinic acid, sodium succinic acid), which is also widely used by the medical community.Succinic acid is good for recovery from prolonged illness and serious injury.It makes it possible for patients to regain their immunity to disease, and it can also help people concentrate.
Russians use succinic acid as an important temperance drug. It can reduce dependence on alcohol. What's more interesting is that it can quickly neutralize excessive alcohol intake.A pill containing about 0.1 g of succinic acid can restore an intoxicated person's ability in about 15 minutes.
Amber oil is recognized as an effective medicine for all rheumatic ailments.Giacomo?As the Pope's envoy wrote in his 1652 travels, "a precious, powerful, bitter, thickened oil has been made from amber.I brought back the recipe from gautansk, where the oil was refined, and it has very beneficial effects.Amber oil made from white amber is especially valuable..."Amber oil quickly penetrates under the skin, penetrates into the tissues and does its job.It improves blood circulation and reduces muscle pain.
In eastern medicine, amber is widely used for massage because of its strong sterilization and beneficial effects with static electricity.
The amber also produced another product, rosin, by dry distillation.It is not only used for high quality dipping and welding, but also has been made into varnish for processing stringed instruments.
Amber is in headache area undertake counterclockwise massage 10 ~ 15 minutes, the symptom of headache can alleviate apparently.
Russian doctors and scientists described the amber treatment as follows:
1, take: succinic acid and succinic acid powder and tincture can;
2. Make suppositories with honey;
3, inhalation method (burning amber smoke);
4. External use: salve, amber oil, cream medicine, massage with amber powder, massage with polished amber blocks, acupuncture therapy with needles with amber needles, bath with amber stone at room temperature or 37 ~ 38℃, wearing amber jewelry, amulets, necklaces and bracelets.
Albert (1193 ~ 1280), Dominican, was a great scientist, philosopher and theologian.Amber is listed as one of the six most effective drugs in his book.Tinctures were invented at the same time, and their base liquid was beer, wine or water. Amber was also added as the main ingredient and was effective in treating stomach and rheumatic pain.There has never been a record of amber's side effects.
The terrible plague of the middle ages pervaded the cities of Europe, bringing untold suffering and disaster to the inhabitants.Amber was burned to give off smoke and incense as a precaution against the plague.Like matterhallouz?"Not a single amber merchant from the polish cities of gtansk, klepeda (now a Lithuanian port), konigsberg (now kaliningrad, Russia's amber capital) or liyepaya (now a latvian port) died of plague (1680)," praetorus writes.Amber fumigation is still used in aromatherapy.
The medicinal value of amber has been a concern since before any of its other properties.The first monograph on amber, the history of amber (1551), and the first polish professional treatise on amber were written by doctors, who instinctively perceived its preventive and therapeutic value because its medicinal value was most representative.
Amber has been used for centuries as a disinfectant. It is used to make baby teething chewers, spoons, cigarette holders, filters and pipes.In the 17th century, there were tea canisters made of amber.
Modern research shows that the miniaturization of amber can promote the key digestion and absorption of human organs.The easiest way to do this is to rub the amber powder on your face.
The environment around us today is so polluted that the natural flow of energy between cells in the body is greatly hindered. These obstructions affect cell metabolism and weaken the body's immune system, but natural forces from amber can stimulate cell renewal.This was confirmed by kaliningrad doctor nikalayev maskov in 2002.He applied the high-quality amber powder made of natural high purity amber to the pain areas of human body (head, spine, thyroid, chest and limbs), and obtained a rapid and effective treatment effect.
application
Amber is the fossil of prehistoric pine resin, formed 40 million to 60 million years ago, the main components of amber is carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and a small amount of sulfur, hardness 2 ~ 3, specific gravity 1.05 ~ 1.10, melting point 150 ~ 180℃, fire point 250 ~ 375℃.
Amber since ancient times is the European noble wearing the traditional ornaments, representing the noble, classical, implicit beauty.Here are a few examples of amber in action (for reference only)
Latin plant animal mineral name
Amber
composition
Main resin, volatile oil, succinosilvic acid, succinoresinol, succinic acid, succinic acid, borneol, succcoxyabietic acid, succinoabietinolic acid.Also contains sodium, strontium, silicon, iron, tungsten, magnesium, aluminum, cobalt, gallium and other elements.
Optimization of process
Purification process
Purification is a method to remove the bubbles in amber and improve its transparency by controlling the temperature and pressure of the pressing furnace in an inert atmosphere.In a pressure furnace, heating partially softs the amber, pressure helps to expel bubbles from the inside of the amber, and inert gas prevents oxidation and discoloration of the amber.Amber is processed want to pass purify this one process commonly, most jin Po on the market belongs to purify product.For poor transparency, thickness of the material, often need to go through multiple purification, or increase the purification pressure, temperature and time to achieve the purpose of making it completely transparent.
Purified products are mainly gold and pearl honey.Kimper is a yellowish - brown - yellow clear and transparent amber.The producing area of natural kingper has Baltic sea mainly, Thailand wait for a region, the part of kingper that sells on the market is the beeswax of Baltic sea via optimizing and become.
The appearance of pearl honey is similar to that of egg white and yolk, namely opaque and even beeswax center is surrounded by transparent golden pearl.Although naturally formed pearl honey also exists in nature, the most common one in the market is the optimized variety.Because the purify of amber is carried out by outside and inside gradually, the transparency that approaches surface layer part gets improvement above all, the beeswax that does not purify thoroughly so was retained inside opaque "mist and mist", form pearl honey finally product.
Roast color process
Blood amber is an important variety of amber, used to make buddhist beads and hand strings and other religious instruments.All kinds of natural blood perps in myanmar blood perps the most famous, but its color dark and impurity more and the number of rare, so the market blood perps are more with gold perps after artificial baked color;In particular, the Baltic sea blood is almost all artificial bake color.
The so-called baked color, namely, under the condition of warm pressure, the organic components on the surface of amber through oxidation to produce red series of oxide thin layer, so that the color of amber can be improved.The deep red color of the blood pearl can mask internal impurities and even the three-dimensional "bloodsilk" structure that presses the amber.The baking process is also carried out in the sealed pressure furnace, and its process flow is basically consistent with purification.
The only difference is that the gas composition in the pressure furnace has changed. In order to facilitate the oxidation reaction, it is very necessary to add a small amount of oxygen in the inert.Normally, the longer the heat lasts, the higher the oxygen content, and the darker the color.Amber semi-finished products can be directly obtained by roasting color blood perw finished products, blood perw after reprocessing can be obtained Yin carved blood perw and two-color amber and other product types.
The cambered surface amber heating processing into black red, throw away the cambered surface surface, retain the bottom surface and on the bottom surface carving various Buddha, flower image, can be processed into Yin carving amber, dark background can better highlight the carving theme.Two-color amber is the partial oxidation layer that passes polishing to remove blood perot, reveal the yellow inside, make in same piece amber presents two kinds of color at the same time, increase the aesthetic feeling of amber.
Popcorn process
The purpose of the explosion process is to obtain the flower perp, which refers to the gold perp with the inclusion of "sun ray".According to the color of "solar ray", it can be divided into: the inclusion of "solar ray" is the same color as that of "golden pearl", which belongs to the product of heat treatment under the condition of absolute oxygen.
The inclusion of safflower "sun ray" is red jinpo, which is formed by oxidizing the open cracks and removing the red skin from the surface under the condition of aerobic participation in the process of warm pressure treatment.The safflower that retains part of the red oxide skin is a two-color safflower.The blasting process requires the selection of amber materials containing a certain amount of gas and liquid inclusion, which is realized by breaking the balance between the internal and external pressure of the bubbles in the amber, so that the internal pressure is greater than the external pressure, leading to the expansion and bursting of the bubbles, producing disc cracks, namely the so-called "solar rays".Jinhua process and purification process of the first half of the same, the difference is in the heating after the furnace opening stage: purification process in this stage have a pressure furnace free cooling process, and the explosion process is immediately turn off the power supply, direct release of gas in the furnace.
The process of safflower is similar to that of golden flower, except that the internal disc crack should be extended to the surface, and the crack should be oxidized to turn red under certain temperature, pressure and oxidation conditions.There are usually two ways to explode safflower. The first way is to directly release air when the furnace stops heating during the process of roasting color. The instantaneous pressure release and the combined action of temperature and pressure will lead to the burst of safflower.The second is after the burst of gold flower and then return to the oven to bake the color, the process of baking color like the process of blood perot production.
Storage and maintenance
store
Amber hardness is low, afraid to fall and knock against, should be stored alone, not with diamond, other sharp or hard jewelry put together.Amber jewelry is afraid of high temperature, can not be placed in the sun for a long time or near the heater, if the air is too dry easy to crack.Strong fluctuations in temperature should be avoided.Avoid contact with alcohol, gasoline, kerosene, alcohol-containing nail polish, perfume, hair spray, pesticides and other organic solutions.Remove the amber jewelry when spraying perfume or hair spray.
maintenance
Amber and hard object friction can make its surface appear coarse, produce fine mark, do not use bristle to brush so or the hard object such as toothbrush cleans amber.When amber is caught after dirt and sweat, can put it to add the lukewarm water that has neuter cleaner immerses, dry rinse with hand rub, reoccupy soft cloth is wiped clean, drop a few olive oil or camellia oil to wipe amber surface gently, touch with cloth later redundant oil is soiled, can restore burnish.
Maintenance advice
The melting point of amber is low, easy to melt, afraid of heat, afraid of insolation, amber products should avoid direct exposure to the sun, should not be placed in the place of high temperature.Amber is easy to dehydration, excessive drying easy to crack.Amber belongs to organic matter, unfavorable contact organic dissolvent, be like nail polish, alcohol, gasoline, kerosene, heavy fluid in, unfavorable put make up ark in, below general circumstance, do not use heavy fluid to measure its density and measure refractive index with dip oil method.Amber brittle, low hardness, should not be hit by external forces, should avoid friction, marking, to prevent scratches, broken.
collection
The color of amber is very important, in a variety of amber, golden amber and red blood amber is the best collection, a lot of businessmen for profit often use synthetic gold amber and high temperature baked blood amber cheat collectors, everyone to pay attention to the distinction when buying amber.
Next, when choosing amber, choose the amber with larger volume as far as possible, bigger amber value is more expensive, collect the price is slightly higher.The rarer the amber, the more valuable it is to collectors and investors, and the rarer the animal or plant it contains, the more likely it is to appeal to collectors.Some amber in the process of natural formation will form some special content and scenery, this kind of natural beauty is rare, such amber value.
Snuff bottle amber, wine red, transparent, flat square.On both sides of the pot carved regular script qianlong yu title seven words of a poem: "the city on the spring cloud covered garden wall, jiangting late color static years fang.The trees are wet with swifts, and the water growing heart is growing.Longwu pro-troops deep in the chariot, lotus don't temple diffuse incense.When will call this money, temporarily drunk good heart jin se room."
The end of the department "qianlong jiadu midspring royal title."The top of the pot has a blue stone lid, under the tooth spoon, the bottom has oval feet.There is half a bottle of snuff left in the bottle.
Amber is the fossil of pine and cypress resin, color is flaxen, brown or reddish brown, when burning aroma, can be used as decoration.
The amber
Burmese amber is an organic gem, which is produced in kachin state in northeast myanmar bordering yunnan, China. It was born in the cretaceous period, the last period of Mesozoic era, about 100 million years ago.
During the cretaceous period, the surface was dominated by chalk, or calcium carbonate.At that time, myanmar was located between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate, with relatively strong geological activities and a volcanic area.At the end of the cretaceous period, due to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, the geology was more acidic, so the Burmese amber suffered more pressure and oxidation, and the content of amino acids in the amber was relatively high.
As the resin slowly dries and loses its stickiness, it falls off the plant and lands on the ground, where it remains for a time.During this time, most of the resin will not survive, and fire is their number one natural enemy.And some of the sand covered up by the resin survived all disaster...
Then, with crustal changes, volcanism, geological activity...These resins are slowly sinking to the deeper underground, according to the buried time, geographical position and environmental conditions, the influence of the resin are different, the different buried depth, the oxidation and compression are different, and different geological conditions and the location, eruption out of the minerals in the soil, will let the resin in the process of petrochemical into different elements.
Burmese amber is mostly classified by color.It can be divided into the following types:
Brown pearl
It is a large species of Burmese amber.Brown perps are classified according to their color into brown red, gold brown, green perot and violet.
Jin Po
Because the instinctive quality of colophony belongs to the golden yellow of different depth, so jin Po amount is more.
Blood amber
Some amber is oxidized underground, and when heated to a certain degree, the color of the pearl deepens and becomes blood-red. This kind of amber is called blood pearl.Blood per can be divided into gold, yi per, deep red, cherry red, orange.
beeswax
The kind of beeswax among Burmese amber is very much, some are named according to color, be like lard honey, chicken oil yellow, white honey, ash honey, blood honey, brown honey, green honey, some are named according to the state, for instance golden sand honey, golden ground honey, golden wave honey, dissolve cave honey.
Root pearl
It is a very unique type of Burmese amber.According to the color can be divided into Hagen, yellow root, flower root, white root, root density (flower Perilla gray blue)
Tea pearl
Only Burmese amber has the tea pearl, because it has the color of tea and tea as strong and thick feeling, so people call it.Tea is divided into black tea, green tea, yellow tea, purple tea.
Insect pearl
The amber inside the pearl that contains insects or other small creatures is called a worm. All species of pearl can contain worms.Burmese amber was formed during the cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago, when dinosaurs were rampant. The species on earth are completely different from today's, so the insects in Burmese worms are more collectable and scientific.
In addition, under the observation of different angles and light, the pearl body shows different colors of amber called chameleon, can be divided into: golden red chameleon, orange chameleon, black tea chameleon, gold brown chameleon, golden pearl chameleon, green pearl chameleon.
Fushun amber
Fushun amber is a mixture of organic and inorganic materials produced in fushun west open-pit coal mine in liaoning province of China.It is a world-famous organic gem, dating back more than 50 million years.
Fushun is an important amber producing area in the world and the only amber producing area in China.Fushun amber is famous for its rich and low-key color, bright and soft luster, delicate and moist texture.
The west open-pit coal mine in fushun, liaoning province, is where high-quality amber is produced.The types of fushun amber raw material variety, found water types of materials (including Jin Po, blood amber, MingPo, brown pearl), flower (including the ivory white flowers, yellow flowers, black flowers, beeswax and water), color material (including biology, plant, water, bravery, XiaoXing pearl), black (including "pearl, pearl of impurities, big black pearl), accompanying materials (including coal associated pearl, pearl and pearl line) associated with waste rock and so on five big classes of 19 common varieties.It is mainly produced in gucheng sub-group coal seam and coal roof coal gangue sandwiched dry.
Fushun amber variety, gorgeous color, in different light can change a different color.Each kind of color gives a person with beautiful enjoyment, make a person find the scenery pleasing to both eyes and eyes.Since ancient times, different colors of amber and people put in different meanings, such as "jin Po wealth, blood Po exorcise evil, yi Po, wax is medicine Po" and so on.Golden person is jin Po, jin Po is liked by Chinese with its golden bright, at the same time amber is one of buddhist seven treasures, especially the jin Po in amber is like a princess to invite a person to love.
China's amber is produced in fushun, liaoning province, and nanyang, henan province. The amber produced in fushun is yellow to golden yellow. It often contains insects.Because of its magic charm, the collection has been praised by the whole country and even the world.
Recently, "fushun amber carving production process" according to the folk art category classification, was included in the third batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage items list.After the first batch of provincial projects "fushun manchu yangko dance", the second batch of projects "fushun coal carving", "xinbin manchu paper cutting" and "qingyuan folk stories", the fifth project entered the provincial list.
Fushun is one of the most important amber producing areas in the world.Fushun amber is a unique mineral resource in fushun west open-cast coal mine. It is rich in variety, tough, bright in color and rare in output.For more than 100 years, fushun amber has been following the traditional manual craft production, under the condition that does not use any mechanical equipment, amber artist with both hands and wisdom, carved the world renowned amber crafts.
Fushun amber carving process, inherited seven generations of artists, due to a variety of reasons, fushun city only 10 individual processing households, new and old amber artists more than 40 people, the youngest artist has been 45 years old, in the danger of dating.
Especially because fushun amber raw materials are becoming scarce, amber carving is precious.Therefore, the protection of fushun's unique and precious cultural heritage and the promotion of fushun's regional culture are not only of great practical significance, but also of profound historical significance.
Baltic amber
The amber societies of Poland, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine signed a letter of intent on August 30 to adopt the name Baltic amber.
The Baltic sea coast is the world's main source of amber, amber quality here, known as the "Baltic gold".
Among them, Poland was the first country to mine and utilize amber and the most successful country to commercialize amber.