550 SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF PRECIOUS STONES 



This variety of amber is often carved and used for ornamental objects of minor importance, 

 also for the mouthpieces of Turkish hookahs, which are often decorated with gold and 

 turquoise. 



" Bockelstein " is a " flohmig ■" variety of " ground-stone," which is worked to form 

 the centre pieces of necklaces, destined for exjjort to Central Africa and South America. 

 Large " Bockelsteine " are 10 per cent, dearer than " ground-stones.'" 



4. Round amber (German, Runder Bernstein). — Round pieces of amber are divided 

 according to colour into clear and turbid (" bastard "). According to size fourteen trade 

 varieties are distinguished : 



" Bastard round " and " clear round " . 



' Bastard ground-stone " and " clear ground-stone ' 

 ' Bastard Knibbel " and " clear Knibbel " 



"Clear round" and "bastard round," No. 1, costs 32s. per kilogram; No. 3, 17s. 

 to 18s. per kilogram ; and " clear Knibbel " and " bastard Knibbel," No. 3, Is. 7d. per 

 kilogram. 



Osseous amber, especially in " Fliessen," has a particular classification. "Osseous 

 Fliessen " is sorted according to size and colour into four lots. It is used for the manufacture 

 of smaller mouthpieces, and its price is 25 per cent, lower than the corresponding material 

 in " bastard amber." " Round osseous " is classified according to the size of the pieces into 

 three sorts. 



According to its structure shelly amber is sorted into two lots, one being described as 

 "large, fine shelly amber" and the other as "unsorted shelly amber." The best qualities 

 of "large, fine shelly amber" are worth 42s. per kilogram, while the price of "unsorted 

 shelly amber" is only 3s. per kilogram. As a general rule, howevex', "shelly amber" 

 is broken up, the best pieces, according to purity and suitability of size and form, being 

 used for mouthpieces or beads, and the remainder included with the better and smaller 

 pieces of " varnish amber." The latter is sorted according to quality and purity into ten 

 trade varieties. " Shelly amber " is worked to only a small extent ; specimens remarkable 

 for their enclosures are usually placed in collections for scientific study, or are used as 

 ornaments, this being especially the case when the specimen encloses an insect, for at one 

 time bracelets, each bead of which contained such an enclosure, were much esteemed. 



There remains now to be mentioned only the class of material known in Germany as 

 Brack. This includes pieces of amber of large size, but so cracked and blebby or so 

 impure that they are useless for ordinary purposes. This kind of material is sometimes 

 bought as a s]3eculation, or it may furnish the amber-A\'orker with a cheap material for the 

 bases of large objects. It is classed into "large Brack," including the purer pieces, and 

 " ordinary Brack." 



The trade varieties of amber and the jjrices quoted above ^\■ere current in 1883. A 

 comparison of these prices with those of earlier times shows that rough amber has fallen in 

 value, this being especially true of the larger and more valuable sorts, the single exception 

 being afforded by the small, clear amber. This fall in price is conditioned partly by the 

 increase in production, an increase Mith which the manufacture and export has not quite 

 kept pace ; partly by the manufacture of imitation amber, especially by the development 



