The Story of Blue Amber(or "Why is it blue?")
Let's
tally up what we know so far.
Certain natural elements (plants, etc) have
molecules whose atoms suck up invisible light and make it
visible.
The connection is there. Fluorescence occurs
naturally and Amber as we know it is also plant derived, so to speak. Would this
then mean that the Amber trees contained elements that were
fluorescent?
Looks that way. At least Dominican Amber. Under a
bankers UV light Dominican Amber becomes a light milky blue - Baltic Amber
doesn't (one interesting way to keep them apart).
However, Blue Amber is
the only Amber that is fluorescent even under daylight. So the fluorescent
molecules in Blue Amber are of a higher saturation than in Ordinary
Amber. How on earth did they get there? Again, we don't
know. But -you guessed it- we got a neat little theory on
that.
Anthracene HypothesisLet's remember where Amber comes from:
trees. The resin becomes Amber, but what becomes of the rest of the organic
material from that tree? It undergoes a similar process as Amber and becomes
Coal.
Which is why people digging for coal often find Amber, and people
digging for Amber often find coal.
We know that from the incomplete
combustion of coal and wood and pretty much any other sort of fire, we can get
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Although Blue Amber, when polished, smells
different than Ordinary Amber, the term -aromatic- may be misleading: in this
case it has nothing to do with odor, referring instead to the hydrocarbon's
chemical properties.
One well known hydrocarbon that is fluorescent is
anthracene. It is used in the artificial production of dye, wood preservatives,
insecticides, and coating materials and rats don't like it. It is entirely
colorless but glows blue under ultraviolet light, and if the anthracene contains
traces of naphtacene, then the fluorescent glow may be more green than
blue.
So is there anthracene in Blue Amber?
The magic words from above
are "incomplete combustion", meaning it takes a fire to produce these
fluorescent molecules. Previously we have established that Blue Amber may be the
result of a fire, giving possible ash residue as evidence. And where
there's fire, there's anthracene.
However, recent studies by Vittorio
Bellania and Enrico Giulotto at the University of Pavia, Italy paint a clearer
picture. They studied several amber specimens via means of optical absorption,
fluorescence spectroscopy, and time-resolved fluorescence measurements. The
resulting spectral analysis revealed that the spectra of the hydrocarbons are
very similar in shape to those of diluted solutions of anthracene, perylene, and
tetracene, but it is the perylene that get's the cigar. Its emission occurs
nearly exactly in the same spectral range of blue amber, indicating that the
fluorecent hydrocarbon responsible for the blueness is most likely
perylene.
Don't believe me? Get one of our beautiful Blue Amber pieces
and go clubbing, or simply step into the sun if you please...
Real blue amber is only found in one country: here in the Caribbean, in the Dominican
Republic. If you want to buy Dominican blue amber, we as amber gemstone dealer and direct exporter are here directly
at the foot of the mountain where blue amber is found with the best contacts
into the mine to serve you the best we can.
We of AmbarAzul sell Dominican
Blue Amber and amber gem stones wholesale to you directly from the place of its very origin. Amber jewelry
supplier and Dominican blue amber sterling silver jewelry and gold jewelry supplier using Dominican
amber directly from the mines, as a
manufacturer who offers custom crafted amber semi products and amber and silver jewelry,
rough amber and raw amber from the Dominican mines in the Caribbean, aamber cabochons, or amb
er cabs, mber earrings,
amber bracelets, amber rings, amber chains, amber necklaces and blue amber
necklaces as well as beads and cabochons and typical Caribbean amber jewelry.
There
are several theories about the origin of the blue color in blue Dominican
amber and it is not fully understood what causes the blue color in Dominican
blue amber. We know that it is a result of blue fluorescence and no solid
blue color. The best way to test blue amber is placing it under an ultra-violet
lamp which intensifies the blue olor to a radiant cobalt-blue. And, we
have noticed that blue amber can be recognized by a very agreeable smell.
One theory links the color in Dominican blue amber to the occurrence of
volcanic ash or dust which was present when the resin was first pressed
out from hymenaea protera millions of years ago.
And
- of course - besides the blue Dominican amber, we also have rough amber
in regular amber colors and all those special amber colors like green
amber and blood red amber, purple amber, as they are only found in Dominican
Amber.
Blue amber comes in different shades of blue. It is difficult to put Dominican
Blue Amber into categories, since our Caribbean amber is not an industrial
product. In the lower quality (regular blue amber), the blue tone can
only really be appreciated under an ultra violet light source.
Then you will find a strong blue reflection in the yellow undertone of
Dominican blue amber (strong blue).
But there is also something we call
"ultra blue amber" which is visible in almost any kind of light. This
is extremely rare, hard to get and - of course - the most expensive kind
of Dominican blue amber. And - of course - there is everything in between,
never the same, because it is the beauty of nature and not a semi-industrial
product like reconstituted and enhanced material from some other countries.
Amber from the Dominican Republic is renowned for the diversity of fossils and inclusions
it contains, the three rare "treasures", which are scorpions, lizards
and frogs but also many other "bugs" in amber, like pseudo scorpion, fly,
damsel fly, dragon fly, termite in amber. Therfore, we also offer fossil amber with bugs in amber. Our Dominican Blue Amber is
the REAL thing, natural amber just the way it comes from the mines.
While
the mystery around the origin of its color has not been cleared, one thing
is sure: Dominican Blue Amber is beautiful and it is extremely rare.