Is Blue Amber truly blue?
Blue Amber is blue, but not in the way you might think. The pieces you see here are taken in natural daylight on two different surfaces.
Why the difference?
When natural light strikes Blue Amber on a white surface, the light particles pass right through, and then are refracted off the white surface. Result: the Blue Amber has a slight blue hue. When the same natural light particles strike the Amber on a black surface, the light particles don't refract off the black surface, thus refracting off the actual Amber. Hydrocarbons in the Blue Amber turn the sun's ultraviolet light into blue light particles, resulting in the famous glow of Blue Amber.
This effect is only possible in the Dominican Republic Blue Amber category. Any other Amber (such as Baltic Amber) will not display this phenomenon. If you are interested to know more about Dominican Amber and particularly about Blue Dominican Amber, please read on below.
If you want to look at some samples of our Blue Amber Jewelry, Blue Amber Cabochons or get to know more about us, please use the links to the right.
According to Poinar, 2001, Dominican amber is from Oligocene to Miocene, up to 40 Mio years old. The oldest, and hardest of this amber comes from the mountain region north of Santiago area, from the mines at La Cumbre, La Toca, Palo Quemado, La Bucara, and Los Cacaos mining
sites in the Cordillera Septentrional not far from Santiago.Strong flurescent Blue amber is only found in one country: here in the Caribbean, in the Dominican Republic.
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 an amber dealer of some other countries.
Amber from the Dominican Republic is renowned for the diversity of 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. Therefore beside being a blue amber dealer we also have fossils, bugs in amber or fossil amber.
If you want to buy Dominican blue amber, we 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 to you directly from the place of its very origin. Amber jewelry supplier and Dominican blue amber jewelry supplier directly from the mines, manufacturer offers custom crafted amber and amberand silver jewelry, rough and raw amber from the Dominican mines in the Caribbean, amber earrings, amber bracelets, amber rings, amber chains, amber necklaces and blue amber necklaces. Also amber cabochons or amber cabs and typical Caribbean amber jewelry.
Our Dominican Blue Amber, rough amber, raw amber, and our sterling silver, gold jewelry, are the REAL thing, natural amber gem stones just the way they come 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. Since the amber in these mountains is tightly imbedded in a lignite layer of sandstone, holes are dug into the sides of the cliffs. The miners accomplish their work only with the help of primitive, simple tools and risk their lives daily.
If you want to know just what is a Dominican amber mine like, how many there are, what is their history, we have prepared for you an article series where we'll tell you everything you want to know about Dominican amber.
