Amber Listserv / Amber List: Amber statue

[ADAM SPIEGEL]

Tammy,
   
  Knowing a few things as I do about amber, and antiquities, here are my 2 cents:
   
  The image does not look like a Pharoah.  It looks more Mycenaean, Minoan or even Asian, all cultures which carved amber in ancient times.  Amber was a very valuable item to the ancient Egyptians, so a piece this large would be amazing.  I am not an expert on Egyptian antiquities, but I have never seen a statue in amber from an ancient time horizon in Egyptian history.  
   
  From Gary Platt's site: "The Egyptian amber has been dated to approximately 3,200 year B.C. Schliemann reported finding large quantities of amber in his excavations of Mycenae and the fabled city of Troy."  
   
  From the website of the American Institute for Conservation: "The extent to which true amber (fossilized resin) was available in ancient Egypt is unknown, but in the past, various artifacts that may have been made from lumps of modern resins may have been misidentified as ambers. . ."
   
  Which brings up the idea that Egyptian amber is really copal from Ethiopia, Sudan, or other African locales.  Certainly there is true amber in Lebanon and Israel, but a piece large enough to carve into a statue of this size?
   
  Either way, it looks modern.  A truly ancient piece of amber would be decomposing, with a crusty rind on the surface (severe crazing).  The decomposition of the amber would also more than not turn the color to a red or orange/red.  I do not see any evidence of decomposition or crazing.
   
  She says a lot of people are interested in the piece.  Maybe so, but that means nothing.  As we all know, many pieces are purchased by people who have no idea what they are buying.
   
  Hope this helps.
   
  Adam
   
  
tamber12 at aol.com wrote:
  Hey guys,

I have a young lady in New Orleans who has an amber statue of an Egyptian pharaoh.  I'm not sure if this is an antiquity item, how it was procured, if it's fake, I have no clue.  What I need is the name of someone in New Orleans at a museum, university, or whatever where she can take this item and have it looked at.  I haven't asked for a lot of information on the item.  I do think it is very difficult to really assess it from a photo and I'm not knowledgeable enough about possible antiquities to give her any advice.  

Tammi


-----Original Message-----
From: misty eiermann 
Sent: Tue, 22 Jul 2008 3:34 am
Subject: (no subject)

          Hello I am a fan of amber. I have a important question that maybe you can help me with. I have alot of people trying to buy my egyptian statue. I was wondering how valuable is my statue? It is 13in in length and 8 in in width. I attached a few pictures for viewing. Thanks for your help.

  Misty Eiermann
   



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