Amber Listserv / copal vs amber

[glen]

to me all of this matters little, I only sell Chiapas amber and whenever I detect copal I remove it. I have only found about one kilo of copal in 300 kilos of amber. It is usually evident by it's amount of fractured faces or by how easily it chips with your fingernail. the obvious difference from a lapidary point of view is that it makes inferior jewellry due to its soft nature. I found one copal that was very close to the strength of amber but I still had to keep the finished pieces round, very limiting. I am only asking these questions to better understand the difference but I realize that no one really knows. when people actually work the material they speak for themselves, no name required.    glen

 I have cut and polished in excess of 20 kilos of amber but only several pieces of copal. 
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