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Ron Barnhouse
Joined: 01 Mar 2011
Posts: 2
Location: Ohio
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 Posted: Mar 01, 2011 20:29 Post subject: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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Thank you.
This is the first site I have found with good information on amber.
I have recently come into possession of a large piece of amber (750 pounds)
It was dug up by a contractor in Ohio.
Is this unusually large for amber? The largest I have found advertised is about 2 pounds.
Also I'm not sure what to do with it. Is it more valuable as it is or in smaller pieces?
I have sent several e-mails to distributors with no replies.
Do you know of anyone I might contact?
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vic rzonca
Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 820
Location: MA
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| Posted: Mar 01, 2011 21:24 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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| I think it would be safe to say that your piece is an outstanding one, if it is as described. In a quick look on Mindat for amber locations, Ohio is not mentioned. More info on exact location and geologic setting, would be most interesting. Thanks Ron.
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vic rzonca
Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 820
Location: MA
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| Posted: Mar 01, 2011 21:51 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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| By the way, where is the other half?
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Ron Barnhouse
Joined: 01 Mar 2011
Posts: 2
Location: Ohio
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 00:06 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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The other half is still in the ground somewhere
The contractor had this in his yard as an ornament when I got it. Id have to ask him exactly what the area was like
I also have noticed that Ohio isn't mentioned as a place to find amber. I intend to have it tested by a gemologist Hopefully that will shed some light on questions I have about it.
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4902
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 02:22 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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Welcome to FMF Ron.
I splitted and re-named your posts, creating a new thread to give more visibility to this topic.
I agree with Vic. Several Museum's curators are members of FMF, maybe someone could be interested for this piece...
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Peter
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 346
Location: Sweden / Luxembourg
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 02:34 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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| It certainly has booth more interest and value as is, i.e. as a large specimen. And as previously noted, it seem to be a smaller section of a giant piece. Ohio! Why not? I would hope the Smithsonian would take a look and have interest, that would be the place to be, otherwise for instance I saw Collectors Edge in Boulder had a huge mineral exhibit in Beijing and I know the Chinese appreciate large specimens.
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Duncan Miller
Joined: 25 Apr 2009
Posts: 138
Location: South Africa
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 03:55 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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Are you sure it is amber and not cullet from a glass kiln?
Duncan
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Peter
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 346
Location: Sweden / Luxembourg
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 06:02 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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Good point! Just remove a small sample and feel the density and test the hardness.
Can you set a small piece on fire?
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Woody Thompson
Joined: 08 Mar 2010
Posts: 60
Location: Maine
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 07:42 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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The sedimentary rocks in Ohio are Paleozoic age (Ordovician to Permian), with a scattering of Precambrian glacial erratics dragged down from Canada.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has a downloadable bedrock map of the state.
Could amber occur in the younger part of that section, which is in the eastern part of the state? There are coal deposits in Ohio, and some great fossils localities in the older Paleozoic rocks, but I don't recall ever seeing amber from there.
The specimen in the photo looks like it could be a glass slag of some kind.
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Woody Thompson
Maine Geological Survey |
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Woody Thompson
Joined: 08 Mar 2010
Posts: 60
Location: Maine
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 07:52 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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Wikipedia notes that: "Amber is globally distributed, mainly in rocks of Cretaceous age or younger." That suggests that the kinds of trees found in the Ohio coal beds and associated rocks probably were not the right type to have produced amber.
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Woody Thompson
Maine Geological Survey |
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vic rzonca
Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 820
Location: MA
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 09:09 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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| Probably no need for a gemologist, the definitive tests Peter mentioned, hardness-see if a pocket knife will scratch it, or heat up a needle and see if you can melt a bit, note the odor, if it does melt. Amber, being a plant resin, is not very dense and would feel light in weight, compared to just about any rock of the same size. Could it be rosin for your fiddle bow?
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Elise
Joined: 22 Dec 2009
Posts: 243
Location: New York State
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 09:55 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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| vic rzonca wrote: | | Could it be rosin for your fiddle bow? |
Or a pocket of discarded resin-based varnish? 18 years ago someone brought a gigantic lump of beautiful "amber" into the gallery I was then working in (which at the time had one of the largest, most diverse collections of amber in the Northeast- before the Jurassic Park movie phenomenon) - the man was in a state of consternation because it had slumped after becoming overheated in his car: varnish of some sort sold to him as amber ( I don't actually remember exactly what it turned out to be). If it is light for the size, I would dismiss glass slag which, along with Duncan and Woody, was my first impression from the photo - but perhaps it is some other type of industrial clinker? I took a very cursory look through all of my amber books and the 3 volumes of Sinkankas Gemstones of N. America and did not find Ohio noted as a locality in any reference (though there is a deposit just over the border in Pennyslavania). That doesn't mean anything other than more "digging" is necessary. Wouldn't a call to the state's Natural History Museum be in order? if it is amber, they might be very interested -- if isn't, perhaps the exact locality might be of interest to the hazmat folks.
Cheers,
Elise
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Elise Skalwold |
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vic rzonca
Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 820
Location: MA
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 10:21 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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| Or the string section.
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Pete Richards
Site Admin
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 828
Location: Northeast Ohio
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 12:03 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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I'm not sure Ohio has a State Museum, though there are major natural history museums in Cincinnati and Cleveland. I've lived in Ohio for 40 years, and never heard of amber from Ohio. Sorry, but I'm very doubtful that this is amber, especially amber that is actually from Ohio. I'd love to be proven wrong....
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Collecting and studying crystals with interesting habits, twinning, and epitaxy |
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John Krygier
Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 1
Location: Columbus, Ohio
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| Posted: Mar 02, 2011 12:30 Post subject: Re: Very large piece of Amber from Ohio |
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Contact Dale Gnidovec at the Orton Geological Museum at Ohio State University.
I tried to include his email and the URL to his web page but this site told me it was rejected as spam. So just google the above information for his email.
JK
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