Golden Coals
A eagle eyed worker from North Norfolk railway picked up a lump of 'bad Coal' tossed aside by the Trains 'Fireman' and decided it warranted a second look.
He brought the Coal into Little Gems Rock Shop for identification says Danny Hickling from Little Gems Crystal Shop in Cromer explained " he asked if a dark golden layer sandwiched in between the coal was amber. At face value this seemed highly unluckily -coal in the Uk is usually around 250 million years in age where as most amber is of 40 million years.
This made the band of amber coloured material very unlikely to be true amber, however the gentleman explained that the amber was imported from Russia.
Many deposits of commercial coal in Russia and the eastern block are much younger making it more of a possibility. I tested the piece further ruling out other amber coloured minerals such as selenite and calcite and concluded that the find was a very unusual one Amber in Coal!!!!
