Amber

Nail polish remover destroys it.

Tree resin from Eocene forests, polymerised over 30 to 90 million years. It is the only gem material that regularly contains a dead animal. Rub it and it holds a static charge, which is why the Greek word for it, elektron, is where electricity gets its name. Nail polish remover destroys it.

Trade routes older than most European nations.

Tree resin from Eocene forests, polymerised over 30 to 90 million years, and the only gem material that regularly contains a dead animal. Baltic amber has moved along trade routes older than most European nations. It floats in brine and dissolves in nail polish remover.

Elektron is where the word electricity came from.

Rub it on wool and it will lift paper scraps off a table, which is why the Greek word for it, elektron, is where electricity got its name. It is Eocene tree resin, polymerised over 30 to 90 million years, light enough to float in salt water. Never let nail polish remover near it.

The only gem that regularly contains a dead animal.

The only gem material that regularly contains a dead animal, sealed in Eocene resin somewhere between 30 and 90 million years ago. Amber teething necklaces are a modern commercial invention and a genuine strangulation risk for an infant, which is worth saying plainly. Perfume clouds the surface permanently.

Elektron is the Greek for amber, and where electricity begins.

Rub it and it holds a static charge. The Greek word for amber, elektron, is where electricity gets its name. Fossil tree resin polymerised over 30 to 90 million years, light as plastic in the hand, and the only gem material that routinely contains a dead insect. Perfume clouds it.

Amber floats in brine. Most plastics sink.

Drop it in saturated brine, about eight teaspoons of salt in 250 millilitres. Amber floats and most plastics sink. It is Eocene tree resin polymerised over 30 to 90 million years, soft at hardness 2, and acetone or hairspray will cloud the surface permanently. Greek elektron gave us the word electricity.

The Greek word for it was elektron.

Tree resin from Eocene forests, polymerised over 30 to 90 million years, and the only gem material that routinely contains a dead animal. Rub it briskly and it holds a static charge. The Greek word for it was elektron, which is where electricity got its name.

The only gem material that routinely contains a corpse.

Tree resin from Eocene forests, polymerised over 30 to 90 million years, and the only gem material that routinely contains a dead animal. Rubbed, it holds a static charge, which is why the Greek word for it, elektron, is where electricity got its name. It floats in salt water.

Trade routes older than most European countries.

The Baltic deposits have moved along trade routes older than most European countries. It is tree resin from Eocene forests, polymerised over thirty to ninety million years, and the only gem material that regularly contains a dead animal. Its Greek name, elektron, is where electricity comes from.

The only gem that routinely contains a dead animal.

Tree resin from Eocene forests, polymerised across thirty to ninety million years, and the only gem material that routinely contains a dead animal. It floats in brine, it burns, and it holds a static charge, which is why the Greek word for it gave us electricity. Mohs 2, and perfume dissolves the surface.

The Greek word for amber is sitting inside the word electricity.

Rub it and it holds a static charge, which is why the Greek word for it, elektron, is sitting inside the word electricity. It is polymerised tree resin, 30 to 90 million years old, and the only gem material that routinely contains a dead insect. Solvents and perfume dissolve the surface.

It floats in salt water and burns.

It floats in salt water and burns, which is how you separate it from plastic, and it is the only gem material that regularly contains something that was alive. Perfume and nail polish remover both dissolve the surface. Thirty to ninety million years of resin, at Mohs 2.

Amber is carried for protection, grief and abundance. Tree resin from Eocene forests, polymerised over 30 to 90 million years, and the only gem material that regularly contains a dead animal.. Tradition links it to the solar-plexus, sacral chakra.

Widely heat-and-pressure treated to clarify cloudy material (which creates the disc-shaped sun spangles), to darken colour, or to press small fragments into larger blocks (ambroid or pressed amber, identifiable by visible flow lines between fragments). Dyed green and blue amber is common.. Float test: amber floats in a saturated salt solution (about 8 teaspoons salt in 250 ml water) while most plastics and glass sink. Under UV it fluoresces pale blue-white; most plastics do not.. Widely heat-and-pressure treated to clarify cloudy material (which creates the disc-shaped sun spangles), to darken colour, or to press small fragments into larger blocks (ambroid or pressed amber, identifiable by visible flow lines between fragments).

No. Amber dissolves or spalls in water. Dust it dry instead of soaking it, and keep it out of salt.