"water bubbles" prized for their age and beauty.

There is a small site around the small town of Simojovel, in Chiapas, where an amber with precious characteristics is extracted: Mexican amber. As we all know very well, amber is a precious stone of plant origin, and therefore belongs to the group of organic precious stones, as do pearls or corals, among others. But how did amber form? It is simple to explain: more than 25 million years ago, resin sprouted from the bark and trunks of trees, forming irregular drops and masses in the form of molasses, which was nothing more than a defense against any type of pest.

Internationally, only about 20 deposits of this fossil resin have been counted and Mexico has one of the most important deposits in the world in Chiapas. Amber is a fossil resin of great transparency and luster, whose only known deposits in Mesoamerica are located in the northern and central highlands of Chiapas.

The name "Amber from Chiapas" is applied to the semi-precious stone of plant origin, and to products derived from it, such as jewelry, art, and religious objects, among others.

Amber from Chiapas, Mexico is the oldest known Amber from the Americas and has been collected for thousands of years by local peoples. The quality of Mexican Amber is comparable to that of Dominican and does not craze. It began to receive attention in the 1950s due to Mayan archaeologist Frans Blom.

"Direct Source. Excellent Selection. Ethics".

Amber is not actually a tree sap; it is from the resin of a tree. Tree resin is beneath the bark, used by the tree for protection from insects, animals, or breakage. ... A lot of Simojovel ambers are becoming rare, which makes it more expensive. Please be careful and considerate when purchasing!

The Scratch Test - Real Simojovel Amber has a hardness of 5 - 6 on the Moh's scale so it should be easily scratched by metal. As mentioned above, glass won't scratch. This WILL hurt your amber (if it's real) so attempt to scratch in an unnoticeable area (kind of hard to do on an already small bead).

$13-15 per gram. Smaller beads cost a bit less and larger ones more. Clear Amber is more valuable than pieces that look cloudy or opaque. Simojovel Amber is unique among gems for its ability to contain other once-living things within it.

Real Simojovel amber is buoyant and it doesn't sink like a stone in saltwater. You must first remove the amber from its setting (hence the damaging), dissolver 2 tablespoons of salt in 200ml of water, and drop your amber into the solutions. If it sinks like a stone, it is not amber, but if it slowly sinks, it is probably amber.

Amber is a fossilized tree resin, which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects. Amber is used in jewelry. It has also been used as a healing agent in folk medicine.