Green Caribbean Amber

There are different versions of Dominican green amber, the rare translucent kind (which the copy-cats imitate and call “Caribbean Amber”), also an opaque green, a green with black stripes (almost marble), a bluish green, smokey green, olive green etc.

And it is all NATURAL. Just the way it is found in the mines!

But, and this is most amazing, besides the green and the regular honey, brown, black etc. it also is found in purple, eggplant, teal and the most rare BLUE. 
Although its existence has been known since the descovery of the island “La Hispaniola” by Christopher Colombus, Dominican amber mines are only a major source of amber during the last 50 years. But, because there is not much publicity, uninformed people who have not bought it on a visit to the island, don’t even know about it. Seems that some still have to discover the “New World”, 500 years after Colombus. Never mind, even some Dominicans don’t know about it either. Why? Because there is very little of it.

The outcrop of Dominican amber is much, much less than Baltic amber, therefore it is RARE in the true meaning and not all over the world.  Hence, it is not the amber jewelry you will see in the Supermarket next door or at the flea market in your neighborhood. And – this is VERY important – it is never treated, never “enhanced”, just natural amber as it comes from the mines. The real McCoy. 

Although there are mines where even young Copal is found, much of the Dominican amber is real, old and hard amber. 

Dominican Amber Mine Sites

There are three main sites in the Dominican Republic: La Cordillera Septentrional, in the north, Bayaguana and Sabana, in the east. In the northern area, the amber-bearing unit is formed of clastic rocks, sandstone accumulated in a deltaic or even deep-water environment. 

The oldest, and hardest of this amber comes from the mountain region north of Santiago area, from the mines at La Cumbre, La Toca, Palo Quemado, La Bucara, and Los Cacaos mining sites in the Cordillera Septentrional not far from Santiago.

Since the amber in these mountains is tightly embedded in a lignite layer of sandstone, holes are dug into the sides of the cliffs. The miners accomplish their work only with the help of primitive, simple tools and risk their lives daily. 

There is also amber in the (south-eastern Bayaguana/Sabana area. It is softer, sometimes brittle and suffers oxidation after being taken from the mines, therefore less expensive. And there is also copal found with only an age of 15-17 million years. In the eastern area, the amber is found in a sediment formation of organic-rich laminated sand, sandy clay, intercalated lignite as well as some solated beds of gravel and calcarenite.