How To Tell If Amber Is Real?

Hi! As far a the most definitive proof, you can send a piece of amber into the GIA (gemological institute of America) for testing. They will provide a certificate of authenticity or falseness. The only problem is that every test costs about 100 or more per piece and takes a few weeks. If you are willing to pay that amount, i would gladly send in any of my pieces for verification. I have these tests available that I have done for other pieces, just not for every piece in my collection. The price would be astronomical. The other way of proving it is this. There is list of tests one can do to the amber that it will pass. My amber passes all these following tests: 1) Origin - I know the suppliers, have been to their houses, the mines they get amber from, and know their reputations. My suppliers are all 2nd or 3rd generation amber dealers in their respective countries. and When you live by an amber mine and live off it, it would damn your reputation and your business to sell fakes. Also the amber from every locale has a certain personality, which is identifiable. My Dominican dealer (my most popular insects in amber I sell) sells to a lot of scientists worldwide, especially to universities in China, who all do extensive checks on their products and would not easily be fooled. If he ever sold them a fake piece, he would lose lots of business from them. 2) UV reactivity - all my amber is UV reactive. That's the easiest test. Most fake plastic pieces are not UV reactive, although some can be made that way 3) Saltwater test - all my amber passes the saltwater test which means it floats in salt water. 4) burn test - if you burn real amber, it flakes and chips, but does not drip. If you burn plastic fake amber, it will drip like a liquid. This test is destructive and not advised on polished pieces. 5) Raw amber - raw amber from each deposit is for sale, which you can polish yourself, and then see that it becomes beautiful and characteristic of it's type of amber. After you work some pieces yourself, you will learn what that amber is like and see how the process works. 6) The rub test - if you rub real amber until your fingers get warm and the amber gets warm, it will smell like pine resin. Fake amber does not. If an amber passes all these tests and a few more rare ones, you can rest assured it's real! I also have lots of videos of me exploring the amber mines and amber markets of Mexico and Dominican Republic! Which hopefully will show you that I get it from the source. :)