Dominican Amber
A Color Enchantment

Dominican Amber Offers one of the Largest
Color Spectrum in the Gem Industry

What is a Color ?

Dominican Amber Occur in a very large variety of colors which are often resumed to yellow, orange, green, blue…..etc. But before diving on Colors of Amber, we need to talk about Colors in General and Colors in the Gem World in Particular.
In Fact, color system is actually quite a bit more complex that it actually looks-like and in order to describ a color, professionals of the Gem Industry use a standard combination of 4 components, Body Color, Hue, Tone and Saturation.

Bodycolor –A Gem Material Basic Color determineted by it’s Selective Absorption of Light
Hue, which is the basic color we see on a Gem at first sight, most people refering about « Color » are actually talking about Hue.
Tone, refers to the lightness or darkness of a Hue
Saturation refers to the Hue’s intensity

Industry specialised in Colored Gems use specific tools to determine the color of a specific Gem Material.
One of the most refered tool is the Gemset designed by Pantone and The Gem Institut of America (GIA).

Various Gemset versions was available at GIA, the full set including 324 samples and a three trays storage case. Color Comparators was rounded on a side and had a faceted shape in the other side, this in order to offer a more realistic representation of color than any flat surface.

Discontinued now, Gemset still be used by many Laboratory Professionals as well as schools and had turned now a collectionable instrument very researched. In our modern days, Computarised systems like Gemewizard are able to identify 1116 colors classifying 31 Hues on six Tones and six levels of saturation

Is it Blue Really Blue ??

Determination of a Color in the Gem Industry

Because colored gem materials are so varied and subject to individual perception, the Gem Industry elaborate Grading Rules in order to Classify an individual Colored Gem Material.

The Hue Wheel - A 31 Hue wheel based on the 7 main Hue's – Red Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet and Purple. (Pink & Brown are not included in the Hue Wheel and as refered as "Exceptional Hue's" in the Hue Chart)

The Tone Scale – A Reference using 11 Tones from Colorless to Black. As standard, the industry only use 7 of them from Very Light to Very Dark Classification.

The Saturation Scale – Gradueted from 1 to 6 - 1 to 3 being the lower grade. Two scales are used for the saturation evaluation, one for the warm colors and one for the cool colors.

A typical notation results of this Grading System.

(Hue Code) Tone Degree/Saturation Index

A Colored Gem with the formule yG 4/5

will be interpreted as yellow-Green

with a dark tone and a strong saturation

(the capital letter refering to the Dominant Hue)

Color Perception
Subjective or Not ?

According to Lightning Conditions and Backgroud
A Same Piece of Amber will Display a Dramatically
Different Hue (Percepted Color)

Phenomenal Gems

Most of Gem Materials Colors varies Slightly according to light conditions. Some of them exhibit unusual optical effects and are qualified for this reason by the industry as Phenomenal Gems.

Common Optical Effects on Phenomenal Gems are:

Iridescence : Rainbow-like colors (Labradorite)
Asterism : The Star Effect ( Depends Mostly of the Quality of Cut, Sapphire, Ruby Chrysoberyl…)
Adularescence : Shimmering effect (Moonstone) Play of Colors (Opal)
Chatoyancy : Cat Eye Effect (Chrysoberyl, Apatite, Tourmaline on Cabochon Cut Shape)
Flame : Stombus Gigas Calcaceous Concretions (Conch Pearls)
Color Change : We are not talking here about changes only visible by expert like for color grading but Dramatic color changes obvious even to untrained eyes. Alexandrite (Chrysoberyl), Diaspore, Fluorite as well as some variety of Garnets and Sapphire.
Usambara Effect: Also Called « Emerald Filter Effect » is the effect in which Color varies according to the Light Path Lenght. This is a particular property of Amber, but has been observed also in some Garnets as well as in Tourmaline Specimens in which it depend specially of the type of cut.

A Gem Material Like no Other
Processed with Passion

In our Family Factory we Take all the Necessary Time
to Craft Each of Our Creations
To Highest Level of Quality

Colors & Amber

In the Gem World, Amber is a Very Unique Gem Material. A same sample of Amber, on the exact same ligthning conditions will display different colors depending on his background (Reflected Light “Key Color” Vs Transmitted Light “Body Color”. The darker the background, more dramatic will be the changes. This is actually a Superficial Phenomenom due to the fact that Amber is a Long-Wavelenght pass filter with a Half-Pass Wavelenght around 530nm in its spectral transmittance. This very particular Superficial Phenomenon is called Usambara Effect or Emerald Filter Effect.

Amber from The Dominican Republic displays a large variation of Body Colors (Hue), from almost colorless very light yellow in the whole spectrum to brown, goint through brownish-red, red, redish-brown. This body colors are more or less « Vivid » according to their respective degree of tone and saturation.

All Variety of Amber from Dominican Republic in addition to their primary body color will display other colors according to various factors.

- The Background in which the specific Amber is Observed (More or less Dark)

- Specificities of the Amber Piece, Thickness, Shape, Level of Polish...

- It's own Colorimetric Particularities, Hue, Tone, Saturation

- It's Particular Chenical Composition

- Level of Inclusions (The more Included the more Saturated will be the Hue)

- Global Lightning Conditions depending on the following aspects
Light Source & Temperature (ºKelvin): Incandescent, Halogen, Discharge (Fluorescent tubes, CFL, Sodium Vapor, Metal Halide) or LED. Direct or Reflected Light. In Case of Natural Sunlight, the general conditions of the atmosphere, moment of the day (Time) Cool colors temperatures on sunrise to warmest ones on sunset, Overcast conditions...

Intensity : Strength of light expressed in Lumens or equivalent Whatt

Light Incidence : The angle by which the light is displayed to the subject. A 45º Angle seems to be the most inluent one

Characteristic Usambra Effect on Blue Amber

Color Temperatures evolution during a typical day

Influence of Color Temperatures on a "T" Moment

The Picture bellow was take at the same instant mastering the Color Temperature Film Simulation on Camera Settings. We can see obviously here how important is color temperature on perception of Colors

The Very Particular
"Red Skin" Nuggets

During the Fossilization process which take over Million of years, Resin (Which turn Amber) has been deeply deposited for a very long time and exposed to various Thermal and Geological Forces. According to Geological events causing remobilization of Amber Bearings close the surface (Mountain Formations) and by consequence close the oxygen from which it was deprived, certain Amber Pieces develop a superficial very characteristic oxydation. This superficial oxydation varies from very light orange on the full spectrum to black. It brings a unique effect to a very small proportion of Dominican Amber called locally "Ambar Casca Roja or Flor de Tierra"(Red Skin or Outcrop Nuggets - Romantic traduction of Flor de Tierra being - Ground Flower), this Solid Coloration can be seen by Transmited as well as Reflected light. As this is ONLY a Supercial Oxydation, this "Layer" may desappeared according to the process of Grinding / Polishing and reveal then another coloration. Master Carvers often play with this particularity in order to achieve incredible pieces of art.

Hue - Tone - Saturation & Usambra Effect

Amber from Dominican Republic offers one of the largest Color Palette.
How Many Colors Exactly...? Well, you name it...
We process everydays this Fantastic Gem Material and it Seems that everyday we Discover new Colors...
It's Actually Almost Impossible to Match the Exact Same Colors from 2 Different Nuggets

Usambra Effect or Emerald Filter Effect is visible in all Hue (Colors) of Dominican Amber. By far the Astonishing Ultra Vivid Blue is one of the most Charming

From the Deposit of Palo Quemado miners extract a large variety of Amber. Very Hard Gem Material this Chunks of Consequent size are the kind of Material ideal for Carving. Green Nuggets from Palo Quemado are certainly by the most Saturated.

A Black Background is not absolutely necessary to note the Usambra Effect, Sometimes even without Backgroud at All, just a Correct Incidence of the light Reveals the Magic....

Amber is Perhaps one of the Colored Gem Material the Most Difficult to Grade in Color as it Combine so Much Properties.

Dominican Amber A Color Enchantment