Dominican Amber

Authentic Amber
The Dominican Republic is one of the worlds main sources of authentic-Amber a fossilized resin from the tree Hymenaea Protera which became extinct about 25 millions years ago.

Wood-Gnat Encased in 30 million year old Dominican Amber.
"Trapped air bubbles"

Many museums around the dominican republic and the world offer displays with many types of trapped insects, lizards, plants as well as other inclusions, some of them offer scheduled tours.

Review the information provided and follow the links for information on museums, shops, mines and recommended places to purchase these magnificent stones.

Amber and "Larimar the cool blue stone" are known to many as stones, however amber is a stone in name only, as it is actually the sap of prehistoric trees that has trapped various organic materials, such as insects, lizards, and flowers.

Over millions of years, the sap petrifies, perfectly preserving it's victims. In the past few years scientists have discovered that they can investigate the DNA of animals trapped in amber-resin providing clues to their biological origins.

The antibiotic property of the resin stopped the development of both bacteria and Fungi, thus preserving every detail of any organism trapped inside.

Raw Larimar Stone Found only in The Dominican Republic

Dominican Amber is reputed to be the best in the world for it's range of color, it's translucency and high frequency of trapped specimens.

Amber comes in a honey or Gold color it comes in shades of green, red, and even blue which is very rare.

In 1989 scientist examined a piece of trapped mushroom and determined that it was more than 25 million years old, twice as old as mushrooms were thought to be, of course most amber does not contain preserved animals, plants or insects.

Traditionally the Baltic was the source of most of the worlds amber but today, some geologist think that the Dominican reserves may be the worlds largest.

Dominican Mines

Dominican Amber is found in the mountains north of Santiago at elevations of 700 - 1,500 meters.

The Amber Mines in DR are located in a La Cumbre near the Coast in the Cordillera Septentrional, the mountain range between Santiago and Puerto Plata.

The Mines were Part of the Inspiration as well as a setting for the movie Jurassic Park, In which scientist managed to recreate dinosaurs from DNA found in the blood of a mosquito that had been trapped in amber.

Only under extreme magnification does it become clear that there is another insects hairy wing higher up in the amber.

A form of life with one of the shortest life spans caught in all it's primitive splendor for eternity 30 million years ago. I also wonder what the trapped air would tell us of our current atmosphere.

insect in amber

Facts you should know before you buy amber! .

Fake or Real

Best Places to buy raw uncut pieces or Jewelry

Museums

Larimar

Fake or Real Amber
Let's start here, the two common tests for amber are:

1. Put it in salt water

2. Place amber under a fluorescent lamp.

NOTE: Amber floats in salt water whereas plastic sinks, and the glow of amber changes under fluorescent light, while that of plastic doesn't.

Shopping

Amber makes a very unique and distinctive gift, and it's worked into pieces of jewelry, such as Amber earrings, beads and necklaces of all different sizes and prices.

As in any tourist destination, there are always a large number of souvenir shops that cater to travelers and most take Credit Cards and Travelers Checks, there are also duty free shops at airports and at large duty free zones in Santo Domingo.........WANT TO KNOW MORE..

Museums

Museums have a good range of items fore sale but their prices tend to be a bit steep.

The two Amber Museums in Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata are well worth visiting, both to find out how this precious resin is formed and to view some of the unusual pieces on display these are one of the best places to buy a piece to take home.........WANT TO KNOW MORE...

Larimar

Amber and larimar are the most Native of all the types of semiprecious and precious stones available in the Dominican Republic.

It has been found only in one location: a mountainous, relatively inaccessible area in the province of Barahona in the Dominican Republic.

The first mention of the stone is in a request to mine Larimar in 1916, however it wasn't until 1974 that the stone really made an appearance
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