Is amber a mineral?
Amber is not a mineral: GIA classes it as organic fossilised resin, amorphous, hardness 2 to 2.5, specific gravity 1.08. Being organic is not what rules it out.
No. Amber is not a mineral: GIA classes it as organic fossilised tree resin, hardness 2 to 2.5, specific gravity 1.08, and the International Gem Society calls it an amorphous mixture with no crystal structure. Organic origin is not the reason: 16 IMA mineral species are hydrocarbons or close to it.
In short
- Amber is not a mineral, and GIA says so in its facts panel: organic, not mineral: fossilized resin, with a formula of C10H16O, refractive index 1.540, specific gravity 1.08 and hardness 2.0 to 2.5. The September 2026 IMA list has no row for amber, copal or succinite.
- Organic is not the disqualifier. Tropper’s definition says a mineral may form by inorganic as well as organic processes. A script over the IMA list finds 13 rows made only of carbon and hydrogen, such as evenkite, C23H48, and 3 more of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen: 16 organic minerals. GIA’s C10H16O matches none of them.
- Amber fails on structure and mixture. The International Gem Society (IGS) calls amber an amorphous, non-crystalline mixture of hydrocarbons, resins, succinic acid and oils. That fails both the highly ordered atomic arrangement and the homogeneous solid in the definition. It passes natural and solid.
- The 1.13 float line. The IGS gives amber 1.05 to 1.096, usually 1.08, and says it floats in a salt solution of about 1.13 while most plastics sink. Its own documented failure: some plastics, as low as 1.05 or with air bubbles, float too. A 20.00 g piece of amber weighs only 0.95 to 1.75 g in plain water, against 12.45 g for quartz.
- Amber or copal: the sources draw the age line in different places. GIA says amber must be over a million years old and copal is younger; the IGS classes preserved resin younger than 30 million years as copal. Neither is a mineral, so the question does not change the answer here.
| Material | What it is (source) | IMA row? | Specific gravity | 20.00 g piece in water | In a liquid of about 1.13 (IGS) | A mineral? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amber | Fossilised resin; organic, not mineral (GIA); amorphous mixture (IGS) | No | 1.05 to 1.096, usually 1.08 (IGS) | 0.95 to 1.75 g | Floats | No |
| Copal | Fossilised resin, younger (GIA); shares amber’s SG and RI (IGS) | No | As amber (IGS) | As amber | Floats | No |
| Ambroid, pressed amber | Small bits fused under heat and extreme pressure (IGS) | No | Not given | Not worked | Not given | No: processed |
| Plastic imitations | Simulant (IGS) | No | Most denser; some as low as 1.05 (IGS) | Not worked | Most sink; some float | No |
| Glass imitations | Simulant (IGS) | No | 2.30 to 4.50 (IGS glass article) | 11.30 to 15.56 g | Sinks | No |
| Evenkite, C23H48 | An IMA hydrocarbon mineral, G, 1953, Russia | Yes | Not read | Not worked | Not given | Yes |
| Quartz, for scale | IMA row, SiO2; Handbook D 2.65 | Yes | 2.65 | 12.45 g | Sinks | Yes |
Is amber a mineral? No, it is organic fossil resin
Amber is fossilised tree resin, and GIA classes it as organic, not mineral. The GIA amber page opens its facts panel with exactly those words, then gives a chemistry of C10H16O, colour yellow, orange and brown, refractive index 1.540, specific gravity 1.08 and Mohs hardness 2.0 to 2.5. The GIA amber description calls amber an organic gem, a product of living or once-living organisms, formed when sap from ancient trees hardened and fossilised.
The IMA list has no row for it. A script over the September 2026 list finds no row, and no line of text, for amber, copal, succinite, ambroid or resin. The International Gem Society amber article is direct about it too: amber is a genuine organic gemstone, although it’s not a mineral like diamonds or sapphires. Its crystallography entry reads amorphous.
Amber is light. At 1.08, a 20.00 g piece displaces 18.52 cm³, against 7.55 cm³ for quartz at 2.65, and weighs 1.48 g in water against quartz’s 12.45 g. Over the IGS range of 1.05 to 1.096 the in-water reading is 0.95 to 1.75 g. The method is on how to measure specific gravity at home.
Why is amber not a mineral if minerals can be organic?
Because organic origin is allowed and amorphous structure is not. Tropper, Introduction to the Mineralogical Sciences (EOLSS) defines a mineral as a naturally occurring homogeneous solid with a definite, but not fixed, chemical composition and a highly ordered atomic arrangement, and adds that it may be formed by inorganic as well as organic processes. The four-part test is worked on quartz on is quartz a mineral; on amber it gives:
- Naturally occurring: pass. Fossilised resin from ancient trees (GIA).
- Solid: pass. Hardness 2 to 2.5.
- Homogeneous, definite composition: fail. A mixture of hydrocarbons, resins, succinic acid and oils (IGS); the gem society’s formula is approximate.
- Highly ordered atomic arrangement: fail. Amorphous, non-crystalline (IGS).
The IMA list proves the organic point. Parsing every row and keeping formulas built only from C and H finds 13, among them evenkite C23H48 (G, 1953), fichtelite C19H34 (G, 1841), idrialite C22H14 (G, 1832) and ravatite C14H10 (A, 1992-019). Three more, flagstaffite, hoelite and refikite, are C, H and O only. A scan of every line for C-H formulas finds the same 16. They are crystalline organic compounds; amber is a non-crystalline mixture. GIA’s C10H16O, worked on standard atomic weights, is 78.90% carbon, 10.59% hydrogen and 10.51% oxygen, and matches no row.
Is my amber real? The 1.13 float line and where it fails
The IGS threshold: amber, at 1.08, floats in a salt solution of about 1.13, while most plastics sink. The International Gem Society amber article describes the liquid as boiling water with as much salt dissolved as it will take, and GIA also says amber will float in a saturated salt solution. On the IGS range of 1.05 to 1.096, amber floats with 93 to 97% of its volume submerged, worked as SG divided by 1.13. This page reports the gem society’s test; it has not tested it.
Documented failure, in the source itself. The IGS says some plastics with a density as low as 1.05, or with air bubbles, may float as well, and that amber and plastics can share a refractive index of 1.540. Floating says not glass, not most plastics; it does not prove amber. Glass, at 2.30 to 4.50 in the International Gem Society glass article, reads 11.30 to 15.56 g in water for 20.00 g and is caught by any scale.
What the IGS says settles it. It describes a hot-point smell test as conclusive but damaging to the specimen, and an acetone test to separate copal; it calls these destructive, last-resort tests, and this page does not offer them as home methods. Copal and amber share specific gravity and refractive index, so the float line cannot separate them either. General checks are on how to tell if a crystal is fake.
Amber or copal, fossil or not: where the definitions disagree
The age line between amber and copal depends on the source. The GIA amber description says amber must be over a million years old, while copal is younger, often around a hundred thousand years. The IGS classes preserved resin younger than 30 million years as copal, and names kauri gum from New Zealand as a copal variety. Both are fossil resin; neither is a mineral; the label is what changes.
Is amber a fossil? Not strictly, says the IGS. Traditional fossils form when minerals replace organic material; in amber the organic material stays, and the resin turns into a polymer. GIA calls it fossilized resin and dates the oldest amber to the Upper Carboniferous, about 320 million years ago.
When the answer would change. If a resin crystallised into a single ordered compound it could in principle be a mineral, as the 16 organic IMA rows show; amber, as GIA and the IGS describe it, does not. The glassy counterpart of this question is is obsidian a mineral, and the general distinction is on crystal vs mineral. More definitions are in the collecting guides. Nothing on this site is offered for sale; the wanted list is the only commercial route.