Copal is frequently mistaken for amber, and it actually is amber – immature amber that is. Both amber and copal are derived from plant resin or sap that has hardened and fossilized in one form or the other. The age of amber usually ranges from 30-90 million years old, but copal is much, much younger; many specimens are only a few hundred years old. The oldest copal is only believed to be around 1 million years old, but there exists a lot of disagreement among gemologists on this. I have a beautiful copal specimen that I’ve kept all these years.
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Archives for Amber
Amber – A description
Amber is fossilized resin from ancient trees that has turned solid. Amber used to be a sticky resin from trees that seeped out through the bark to protect them from injury and solidifies upon contact with air, or through fissures in their bark. This habit is still widespread today, among trees all over the world. It is the blood of the trees, and meant to patch up wounds in their bark and prevent infection of diseases. A good example would be rubber from rubber trees. This same scenario was happening millions of years ago. The resin oozed down the sides
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