Baltic amber is a unique mineral found in a limited area of Central Europe. It has been associated with our Polish tradition for many centuries. Sources frequently document gifts made of amber or natural nuggets sent as talismans or with wishes for good health. It seems worthy of remembrance, I think, is the request of a young nobleman, Jan \u0141ugowski, who was studying in Italy, sent in a letter dated 10 July 1660. He asks his father for \u201csome item made of amber,\u201d which he wanted to give to a certain Roman as \u201csomething beautiful from Poland.\u201d For centuries, travellers and diplomats visiting our country bought it here and treated it as something of unique value, as something precious and unrepeatable. Amber remains a unique and valuable asset today, of which we are proud.
Very early on, as soon as a substitute material for Baltic amber became available, imitations began to appear, initially made of glass, then of other natural resins, and in the 19th century, of plastics. Today, it is accepted that imitations of Baltic amber are raw materials, semi-finished products, or finished articles made from a substitute, cheaper material that resembles amber in appearance but has different chemical and physical properties, and that they are<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amber imitations are now produced almost all over the world. Some are deliberately prepared from modern materials and are almost perfect, making them suitable for use as fakes of Baltic amber. Identifying such a fake is very difficult. Experts use their professional knowledge, many years of experience, information about the current amber market, and the types of imitations appearing on it for this purpose.
The simplest identification involves comparing the characteristic properties of amber and critically assessing them. This includes the popular scent test (after heating), solubility tests using solvents, examination of surface crack differences, examination of internal crack differences (so-called \u201cscales\u201d), hardness testing, surface scratching, and the brine method, where synthetic resins typically sink in a salt solution.
Appraisers, aware that \u201cmany imitations made today from modern plastics are so perfect that the difference between amber and imitation cannot be detected by simple analytical methods\u201d (A. Golloch), also use advanced techniques such as IR absorption spectrometry, which allows for the flawless identification of Baltic amber (succinite) thanks to the presence of the so-called Baltic shoulder in its spectrum, as well as gas chromatography and electron microscopy.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imitations are created to replace traditional and, at the same time, scarce products made from natural raw materials. They are cheaper substitutes. Baltic amber is imitated because it has already earned its place in people's minds; it is highly valued, desired, and sought after by them.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":26939,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Imitacje bursztynu - tworzenie i rozpoznawanie - Amber Portal","description":"Imitations are created to replace traditional and, at the same time, scarce products made from natural raw materials. They are cheaper substitutes. Imitation amber is b"}},"tags":[],"lokalizacja":[],"temat":[223],"class_list":["post-13652","bursztyn","type-bursztyn","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","temat-bursztyn-baltycki"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bursztyn\/13652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bursztyn"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bursztyn"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13652"},{"taxonomy":"lokalizacja","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lokalizacja?post=13652"},{"taxonomy":"temat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/temat?post=13652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}