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Original Message:   It's complicated. But it's understandable.
Hi Christine,

The name "cherry amber" is most often applied to phenolic plastic imitations that are translucent and red (or reddish). The material is NOT "Bakelite," though like Bakelite it is a phenolic plastic. (Bakelite is not translucent and colorful, and does not make pretty ornaments.)

You are correct that this is essentially the same material as was used for making fake (yellow, but also lots of colors) amber beads, such as are found throughout Africa and the Moslem/Muslim world. This plastic was developed in 1926, and was common by the early 1930s.

Regarding "red amber" in nature. Although most amber is yellow (ranging from pale to dark—that is, white to brown), two issues crop up in this context. As amber ages (oxidizes, essentially) it darkens in color. This darkening can take on a red or reddish tonality. The majority of ancient amber pieces that are recovered are dark in color, and OFTEN reddish. (I will show this in my photos from Italy some time soon.) The oxidation that is responsible for darkening the color of amber, in some instances, happened very long ago—so that this amber, when mined, is already red (or reddish). This quality of amber is more common from non-Baltic sources, such as from Burma, Sicily, México, and the Dominican Republic.

This red or reddish natural amber might sometimes be called "cherry amber," but it is generally NOT the strident artificial red of imitations. The color is most often so dark, we can only see the color in transmitted light. And the color we see, while pleasing, has a natural tonality, with variations in hue and saturation, swirling structure, and often enclosures that make dark spots. (Of course, these features can be imitated, but in most "cherry amber" they are not. It's just plastic.)

The name "cherry amber" should be discarded. Most of the stuff called this is fake; most natural red amber is NOT the colors of cherries; and the name itself causes an expectation that the material should look like the fakes and not like the actual amber.

I hope this helps. Jamey

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