Amber and larimar: how to buy the real thing

Dominican amber is fossilised resin from an extinct tropical tree, between fifteen and forty million years old, and it is famous for the insects trapped inside. The blue variety, which glows under ultraviolet light, is found only here. Larimar is a pale blue pectolite mined in a single valley in the south west of the country. Nowhere else on earth produces it. Because both are valuable, imitations exist. Real amber is warm and very light in the hand, floats in strongly salted water and smells faintly of pine when rubbed hard. Plastic feels heavy and cold. For larimar, look for irregular white patterning rather than perfectly even colour, and be suspicious of anything that is suspiciously cheap. Buy from established shops that issue a certificate, ask the seller where the stone was mined and take your time. The Amber Museum in Puerto Plata is the best place to train your eye before you spend anything.