The newly discovered specimen comes from the famous amber producing area, Hugang Valley, Kachin State, northern Myanmar. According to volcanic ash measurement, amber here is about 1 100 million years ago, belonging to the earliest period of late Cretaceous. During this period, animals and plants living in the humid tropical environment in northern Myanmar are often wrapped in resin from cypress or aralia, which forms amber in a long geological time and has been preserved to this day.
Regarding this new discovery in amber, Xing Lida told reporters that the amber found this time is quite large, with a length of about 7cm. Among them, the preserved ancient birds are more complete, and the exposed head and neck preserve longer and denser feathers, which means that this specimen is older than the newly hatched birds or young birds. In other words, this bird has been born for a long time and lives alone. It is the most developed ancient bird in amber.
Amber, popularly speaking, is a kind of plant resin, similar to what we often call "rosin". It is produced by plants at a certain temperature. Of course, under normal circumstances, high temperature can make it secrete viscous or colloidal liquid secretions. After long-term burial, the secretion gradually lost its volatile components, and then oxidized and consolidated, gradually forming resin fossils.
Traditionally, transparent amber is called amber, and opaque amber is called beeswax. From a professional point of view, the yellow one is called Jin Po; The red one is called blood pearl; Green is called green pearl. Amber is red under strong light or transmitted light, which is called Cuopa. This is a very precious piece of amber, full of insects. Amber, an ancient bird found today, belongs to a pest.
But are pests really collectible? In fact, this is not necessarily the case. The formation of insects is amazing. Behind every insect, there is a story of tens of millions of years, which is fascinating, but it is difficult to talk about "collection". At present, there are pests in amber producing areas, but fake pests are also rampant. Some pseudo-insects cut the real amber, fill it with insects, and then stick it on, just like the famous Bourten fly case. Some fake insects are simply resin or celluloid, which is disgusting.
The value of amber is also collectible, and it must be very high. A good bug needs clarity and transparency. With clear bugs, we can better appreciate our inner bugs. If it is beeswax, even insects can't see it.
Amber in the first-class collection should also pay attention to the beauty of artistic conception and mentality. Although insects are transparent, they are often accompanied by other inclusions. Therefore, the overall layout of insects and amber should be harmonious and beautiful, and it is best to form an imaginative landscape, which is the beauty of artistic conception.
When it comes to form, you have to say the size of the bug. Bugs in bugs are generally not big, big 1~2mm. The bigger the insect with collection value, the better, the more realistic the shape of the insect, the stronger the sense of the picture inside amber, and the higher the collection value of the insect.
We need to realize that the output of natural pests is not much, but there are many pests in the market, and many insect fossils are large in size and complete in form, which are abnormal.
The most basic way to identify pests is to identify the skin of pests, which is the material used to wrap the contents. Because it is difficult for real amber to completely melt into liquid, and the insect body added in pressed amber is seriously deformed under high temperature and high pressure, the cost of forging amber is very high, so insect amber is generally a substitute for amber, and more resin is used as old insect amber. Even many unscrupulous businessmen use cheaper 19 1 or 168 resin with pigments and coagulants to synthesize this synthetic insect-like amber. The identification method of this kind of synthetic pests is similar to corba, and other identification methods are "friction method" and "coagulant method"
However, it is best to send the identification of true and false amber to a special jewelry and jade appraisal institution instead of checking it yourself, especially using physical appraisal methods such as "salt water method" and "needle burning method" which are harmful to amber. At the same time, unless you have confidence in yourself, don't judge the authenticity of pests according to the experience of "change of inclusions", "types of inclusions" and "resin flow". After all, now that the counterfeiting technology is so developed, no one can guarantee that they will not make mistakes, especially in the very precious amber variety of pests.
Authorized institutions should have CNAS, CMA or CAL accreditation qualifications and issue corresponding accreditation certificates. If the seller does not have relevant certificates at the time of purchase, he can ask the other party for inspection. Ordinary amber sellers will be happy to send them for inspection.
In a word, pests are very precious and the forming conditions are extremely difficult. In addition, fake pests are rampant. Pay attention to your eyes when collecting pests, and don't lose too much because of small!