Hello Stone
Although it is not 100% reliable, you can try the salt water floatation test on your beads. Stir salt into warm water until the salt won't dissolve any more and begins to settle out on the bottom (2.5 tablespoons to a cup should do it) - you are creating a saturated solution. Put the beads in one at a time. If they float, they are most likely amber or copal. However there are a few plastic-based fake amber beads which do float. On the other hand, if they sink, you can be relatively sure they are NOT amber. Some other BCN members may want to comment on this, but if most of your beads sink in salt water, they are most likely not amber, but some sort of imitation. Paul