Daniel Collins
After working in a pawn shop for just over ten years, I can safely say that I’ve handled far more jewelry than the average person. Buying, selling, loaning, cleaning, assessing, these were all daily chores. So when this ring showed up, I instantly had my doubts. It doesn’t look right, simple as that, but more importantly, it doesn’t feel right. Handling gold and silver day after day you begin to develop a “feel” for the weight of precious metal items. Often times I’ve known a ring or coin was fake just from how it felt as I hefted it in my hand. This ring? Sorry, it doesn’t have the weight it should have if it were silver. Nor is the luster correct. As for the amber, well, amber is a difficult subject. There is so much phony stuff out there it is pathetic, not to mention amber that has been so processed it is more synthetic than real. The tip-off here is that amber, even processed amber, comes in a wild variety of colors and translucency. What I’ve never, ever seen is a piece of amber that so EXACTLY matches the photograph in the advertisement. It is a natural substance (supposedly), and when your particular item shows up there is either a sense of satisfaction or a bit of a let down. Because you simply have no idea what to expect. But this, this stone is IDENTICAL to the picture. How can that be possible? Because it is manufactured to appear like this, and to always appear like this. Finally, even at the spot price of silver, never mind the amber, it is absolutely unlikely that a ring of this size and weight (even as questionable as the weight seems to be) could be sold at this price point. Sorry, it’s fake.
