Author Sahara Foley

If you’re a fan of Jurassic Park, you know that the premise started from a mosquito that was trapped in the sap of a tree.  That sap, over millennium , became Amber.  Which isn’t a mineral or a stone, but fossilized tree resin.

So why include it as a crystal?

Because Amber has been hunted and coveted for centuries for it’s beauty and healing properties.  And what makes it even harder to find, is that Amber only comes from certain trees.  Mainly, conifers.

In fact, the girls in the crystal group I belong to, have been clamoring for Amber for a year.  Me included.  But the channels we watch and buy our crystals from haven’t been able to find any.

Actually, last month, one channel I buy from finally had some Amber pendants for sale.  Yay.  Of course, I had to buy two of them, and they weren’t as expensive as I thought they would be.

One day, while they were being shipped to me, I was sitting at my desk, waiting for something to upload to YouTube.  You should see my desk.  It’s brimming/overflowing with different types of crystals and most of the are bracelets.   🤣😂

Anyway, I randomly picked up a Citrine bracelet I’d brought about a month ago and decided to use my UV light on it.  Now, Citrine isn’t UV reactive.  Boy was I shocked when it turned out to be.  What the HECK?

I immediately grabbed some other Citrine crystals on my desk, and none of them reacted. What was this mysterious crystal?

I have to state, that from the day I received this bracelet and put it on, I felt it wasn’t Citrine.  Anyone who watches my crystal unboxing videos on my YouTube channel knows I LOVE my Citrine. So, yeah, I know how that type of material feels and how I react to it.

My next step was to use my Rock ID app on this strange crystal.  The first choice it came up with was Amber.  Amber?  Really?

Back to Google I went to see if Amber is UV reactive.  And, yes, it is.  It will give off a yellowish/green color, and with rarer forms of Amber, blue.  Wow!  I accidentally ended up with an Amber bracelet.  How cool was that?

In fact, UV light is how you check to make sure you have real Amber and not the fake, plastic kind.

If you look at the below picture, you’ll see two amber pendants and one bracelet.  The other bracelet is Citrine.  It can be very hard to tell the difference, so I can see how a seller was confused too. Especially in normal, indoor lighting.

But once I compared them outside, in direct sunlight, Wow, you can really see the difference.

The most expensive type of amber are pieces that have hair from the tree it came from, or better yet, parts or whole insects in them.  In fact, by weight, Amber costs more than Diamonds.

So, the whole moral to my rambling story, is ALWAYS check your crystals with a UV light.  You never know what surprises are in store for you. 😁😁