257 – Amber

The market was vibrant with shouts of deals and sales of potential treasures. However, what attracted people the most wasn't the noise, but a small camera crew following an elderly man. A good portion of the vendors recognized the elderly man as Fu Yaoshi. Chinese antiquity wasn’t a big field and the leading experts were too few in between. Many could distinguish artifacts based on research, but Elder Fu Yaoshi was the few known for his spotting ability. 

Elder Fu Yaoshi walked down the street explaining the market history to the spectators and the camera. Many followed along looking like they were part of the peanut gallery. The stall owners who knew Elder Fu Yaoshi were hoping he would visit their stall. Although the audience was not big, they were big enough to create an influx of hobbyist tourists who would buy the trinkets.

As for Li Yun, he was going around to catalog the structural properties of the items in his mind. Having touched a good portion of the items, there were a few things Li Yun could discern. Carved items retained the natural heterogeneous state of the materials as they contained aggregates of different minerals. Casted items contained homogeneous compounds like gypsum or plastic and were more evenly structured. However, there were many exceptions. Crystallization of minerals was also evenly structured and casted items could contain aggregates as an additive.

“From this stall, what items interest you the most?” Elder Fu Yaoshi asked as they stopped in front of a vendor with various jewelry lined up neatly on a counter.

Li Yun didn’t know much about jewelry. He scanned through the brooches, earrings, hairpieces and necklaces. They were small and too many of them to discern if they were of value using Qivi. The price ranged from 500 yuan to 10k yuan. If they were real, the prices were reasonable. Many jewelries were typically priced higher than they were actually worth. If a wealthy buyer liked a particular piece, price wasn’t an issue.

“Elder Fu Yaoshi also collects jewelry?” asked Li Yun.

“This man likes anything old,” Elder Fu Yaoshi replied. “There’s nothing older than the natural stone on earth. However, there are many cheap imitations out there.”

“Elder Fu Yaoshi, how can you tell fake metal from real metal?” Li Yun asked. He was curious about his spotting method.

“There are a couple of ways,” Elder Fu Yaoshi explained. “Silver, platinum and gold can be imitated using a variety of methods. Plating is a common one. The best way to check authenticity is to check whether they are marked.” Elder Fu Yaoshi picked up a silver band and placed a magnifying glass over the interior. “Can you see the tiny number here?”

Li Yun saw the mark on the band. “That is the maker’s hallmark?”

Elder Fu Yaoshi nodded. “Usually for fine silver metals, there are hallmarks imprinted on them starting from the 1800s. Different countries have different methods. In the west, you’ll see numbers that indicate the percentage of the precious metal. Although we do not have a specific system here for hallmarks, we can usually rule out metals without them. As for whether the hallmarks are real, that is a different matter.” Elder Fu took out a piece of magnet. “If you’re looking for metalworks and jewelry, you should carry a magnet around to test the jewelry. Most fine jewelry is not magnetic.”

There were ways to test them with various tests, but that wasn't an option when buying from a street market. Much of Fu Yaoshi’s jewelry ability was based on his knowledge of the makers and the likelihood of it being copied. If the maker wasn’t well known, there were less chances of people wanting to copy the hallmark. 

Gemstones were evenly structured, but the overall shapes were different. The problem was understanding the different shapes.

Elder Fu Yaoshi asked the vendor if he could experiment with three of the amber pendant. The vendor looked a bit nervous but nodded. Elder Fu Yaoshi took three pieces of amber with a small mosquito trapped inside and spaced them evenly apart. 

“If they are real, I’ll buy them all,” Elder Fu Yaoshi told the vendor to alleviate his unease. Prices for the pendants were around 1k yuan. He then turned to the camera and explained his next segment. “Amber and its many imitations are very common in the street markets. Before we continue, let’s explore the question, what is amber? Amber is simply tree sap or resin that has been fossilized for at least 15 million of years. It is a natural polymer. It’s very easy to replicate the look of amber with synthetic polymer so there are many imitations out there. Aside from polymer, you will also see copals sold as amber. Copal is also tree sap hardened with time except they are less than 15 million years old.”

“So if they are technically all plastic, how can we tell them apart?” asked one of the spectators.

“There's no method that guarantees a 100% accuracy without lab analysis or damaging the materials. However, you can simply look for imperfections and inclusions,” Elder Fu Yaoshi pointed to the mosquitos in the amber. “It is extremely rare to find amber that is completely flawless. Synthetic amber is mostly completely clear of flaws. If you find a flawless amber, 99% of the time, it’s a fake.” He took out an amber pendant from his pocket. “This right here is a synthetic amber with a few black specks that cost me less than 25 yuan.”

Elder Fu Yaoshi laid down the fake amber next to the three ambers. The shapes of the stones were all slightly different and the black specks varied. It was difficult for the spectators to discern the fake 25 yuan amber from the 500 yuan amber if Elder Fu Yaoshi hadn’t mentioned it was fake. 

“Another method is to touch the amber,” said Elder Fu Yaoshi. “Amber should be warm to the touch. You can rule out stones that are cold to the touch. Other methods include testing the electrostatic nature of amber by rubbing it with a cloth, saltwater test to make sure it floats and testing the fluorescence of amber under UV.”

Li Yun touched the three amber stones and then the fake. The configuration of the fake amber appeared in his mind. He could see the molecular structure, but looking at images without any manual was difficult. Plastic polymer came in many different forms and structures.

He shifted to the real amber, and immediately noticed the difference between the real and fake amber. The fake amber was more uniform while the real amber had more variations. It was ironic that the fake was more uniform than the real stone, but less expensive. The reason people valued natural gemstone over synthetic materials was rarity, not perfection. 

Similarly, natural diamond had traces of nitrogen, but lab grown diamond was pure carbon. The main differences was in molecular structure, age and value. It was possible to recreate diamonds with similar or better properties than the natural stones. It was worth less simply because it was possible to recreate it in abundance. 

Elder Fu Yaoshi bought the three amber stones from the vendor after verifying it. After an hour, Li Yun learned a lot about the different materials. 

“Ready for the real show?” Elder Fu Yaoshi asked as they arrived in front of a temporary metal building. They walked inside the large hall that was filled with various rocks. “Little Yun, do you know what this is?” 

“What is it?” Li Yun asked. It didn’t look like anything expensive, but there were people crowding around. There weren't any signs around either.

“You haven’t come across raw jade stones?” asked Elder Fu Yaoshi.

“Is that what they are?” Li Yun had heard stories about people buying raw jade stones, but it sounded more like a sort of lottery scheme. They were popular with vendors because they make good money from it selling people rocks that had a small possibility of containing jade inside of them. It was why some people called them gambling stones.

Since the stall didn’t have any sign, the vendor never made a promise that there was something valuable inside the stone or even called them raw jade stone. People bought them for fun like buying the lottery, but there were also regular jade hunters who studied methods to find jade.