here are the pics of fake amber and real amber. I send to you different pictures. that is very difficult to know if it is plastique, bakélite or amber. You have to take the piece and it weight, it smell when you rub it etc....can help you!
After the big war, the first fake amber were distributed in Africa: it was bakélite. therefore the fake amber may be old, but then arrived plastics of all kinds. I send you some photos of these various plastics. I have even a necklace which seems to be of the horn. But the traders sold them and they were used for the amber because the amber was more and more expensive. It is sometimes difficult to make the difference between the amber, the copale and some bakelites. I also send you the photos of amber and copal true.
here are the necklace with bakélite and I have taken the three biggest beads on the second pic:
the cracked bead forward is 6,7cm/6,8 cm diameter and 3,6/3,8cm thick
The bead right is 6,8 diameter and 3,4 cm thick
and the bead behind is 5,6/5,8 cm diameter and 4,6 thick