Either that or put a bead in really hot water. If it smells like a chemical (old wet insulation) then they are phenolic. If there is a pine scent then they might be real. The uniform shape of the beads make me suspect they are not real amber. Carl

Oh well, definitely a plastic smell. Got me excited when they floated in brine :) Do you think they're marketable? (attaching another photo)

do phenolics float in brine? I'm confused...does the smell for sure mean it's not amber?

Hi Melissa, these look like rather new beads and may not even be phenolic resin. Amber does not smell like chemicals but more like a pine scent.

Carl
I am very interested in your response to Melissa - are you saying that there are phenolic resin faux amber beads which DO FLOAT in a saturated saline solution? This seems contrary to almost everything I've heard or read about phenolic "amber". Could you give an example? Could her beads be reconstituted material, beads remade from the scraps of legitimate amber bead production? I've had a couple of them, they look very suspicious because of their new look and common shapes, but in fact have always passed the salt-water float test. Thanks

Dear Waheeno,

Please refer to the link for my advice on terminology.

People sometimes have oversimplified ideas about the brine test. They think that a material that sinks is plastic, and that which floats is amber. The variables are more complicated.

Among plastics, phenolic plastics will sink in a brine (like a rock)—because their specific gravity is high. However old Celluloid also sinks in brine; but few other plastics will sink. Many thermolabile (meltable) plastics will float in brine. Some will even float in plain water (which amber will not).

The majority of semi-realistic amber imitations, since 1926, have been cast phenolics—and the brine test can be used to determine this quickly for a large number of imitations. I don't believe any phenolic plastics will float in brine.

Nevertheless, as I demonstrated in my 1976 article on amber beads, some imitations—including those from West Africa—are made from soft thermolabile plastics that float in brine. For me, these are visually recognizable. But, when in doubt, I would hot-point test them. The odor produced is a sticky-sweet plastic smell, and the material melts easily and may "spin a thread." Other plastics have aromas typical of their types. For instance, acrylic is fruity.

I recommend my Group, Amber Forever, for more thorough information about testing amber and "amber."

Be well. Jamey

what I see here is a fairly typical Moroccan necklace with the strange tinted modelled clay-like composition "coral" barrels, those small metal beads made out of a coil of wire, and these big amber colour beads which are made (in Morocco) from softened synthetic resin otherwise known as real plastic and you can see the squidge marks! I have some which even have discernible fingerprints of the maker.
By coincidence I've just written a short couple of paragraphs for the next Bead Soc. of Great Britain newsletter about imitations of Amber which includes this stuff.

Thanks Carl, waneeho, Jamey and Stefany for the input. What a learning experience it is, being a bead collector! I look at this experience in that light, it was a cheap lesson. This is why I don't mess with amber - there are so many simulants out there and my eye is not trained enough to know the difference. But I'm learning!!!

Mel