Featured Ganesha

Bought this (21 cm tall) Ganesha online. Sold as antique amber, but I have no idea if that's true.

UV light pic from the seller

I did the rubbing test, and it does attract paper and hair.

Your thoughts, please

 

I'll hope right along with ya!

 

Of course I don't have it in hand, but I know Ali Express used to sell similar ones (resin).
And then there are these, not the same but also with faux rubbed 'gold' and very likely from the same factory:

https://oceaniclink.com/product/amber-ganesha-statue-with-led-light-4-70w-x-3-5d-x-5-90h/

https://oceaniclink.com/product/amber-buddha-in-meditation-statue-7-85w-x-4-70d-x-9-85h/

They don't make any claims btw, and neither did Ali.

If yours had been amber, you would have had to pay much more than you did (I saw it on MP), it would have been priceless.

I'll hide now.

 

I can see countless burst bubbles and blobs. Also imperfections in the casting, for instance his left hand.

 

5th pic down.......... bubbles everywhere........ not amber..

 

That would be a rather large piece of amber, if genuine.

Debora

 

If it were real amber the price would have been through the roof. It might be some sort of composite though, and no matter what it's an attractive shelf-sitter. Not the worst thing to buy ever.

 

The fact it was painted was the tip off for me. Who would paint real amber ???

 

The price was indeed too good to be true
But, not expecting a loss on this purchase, as I bought it together with a few vintage mahjong tiles, that will possibly sell for more than what I paid for both items. So you can come out of hiding again, @Any Jewelry

 

And very expensive. And if carved like this, and antique, I can see Asian bidding go up to half a million euros. But that won't happen, because I have yet to see a genuine antique Asian amber statue this size.

 

You paid 5-10 times its real value. And as I said in my previous post, if genuine ones were to exist, they could probably fetch half a million euros.

Good!

 

Stop being the messenger of bad new, or please go back to hiding again ...

just kidding. Thanks for the even bigger disappointment ... err.. I mean... thank you for the info.

Any idea what material it actually is/coud be? (based on the UV light pic and it passing the rubbing test)

 

A plastic of some sort. Probably with chemicals that are prohibited in the EU, as usual with Chinese (beep).

The UV test doesn't say anything about the material, only about the colourant used. In cases like this it is the colourant that fluoresces, not the material. There are several threads on the Jewelry Forum that discuss this phenomenon in yellow plastics and related colours.
Many threads on the forum also show how difficult it is to ID amber.

Rubbing to get a static result is another one that is inconclusive. If I take off my sweater when the heating is on high, it is also static. I don't have any amber sweaters.
Now, if you rub to see if you get a pine smell, that is another story. In that case you have a bigger chance to get close to an ID. The pine smell is one of the characteristics of Baltic amber, and also some other amber types.

Since this isn't a necklace with silver beads to weigh down the amber, a better test would have been the salt water test. Amber floats in salt water.
The proper ratio water-salt can be found somewhere on the Jewelry Forum, I don't know it by heart. In this case you don't have to bother, but maybe something to remember for next time.