Welcome to the Kauri Gum FAQ! Explore the history, cultural significance, and scientific insights of kauri gum. From its connection to New Zealand’s past to its uses in modern-day crafts and healing, kauri gum is a fascinating natural treasure.

Historical Facts

What is kauri gum, and where does it come from?

Kauri gum is a resin from the kauri tree (Agathis australis), native to New Zealand. The gum formed as the trees exuded resin to protect themselves from damage, which hardened over time and was often buried underground.

Why is kauri gum important to New Zealand’s history?

Kauri gum was crucial to New Zealand’s economy, particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was used in products like varnish, linoleum, and carvings. Māori and settlers alike valued it for both practical and cultural reasons. Gum digging, which was often a tough and labor-intensive job, became an important part of life for many.

What was the kauri gum industry like in the 19th century?

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, gum digging was widespread, especially in the northern parts of New Zealand. Digging was done using spades, spears, and hooks to uncover gum buried underground. The gum was then exported internationally until synthetic resins made it less important by the mid-20th century.

Scientific Insights: The Aging Process.

Kauri gum evolves as it undergoes physical and chemical changes over thousands of years:

Fresh Kauri Gum: Soft, sticky, golden or amber in color, and often translucent.

Aged Kauri Gum (100–10,000 years old): Harder and may darken slightly.

Kauri Copal (10,000–1 million years old): Partially polymerized, more opaque and matte in appearance.

Fossilized Resin (Over 1 million years old): Hard as stone, clear, and often containing preserved inclusions like ancient plant matter.

What is polymerization, and how does it change kauri gum?

Polymerization is the process in which the resin molecules bond, turning kauri gum into a harder, more durable substance. Over time, this process makes the gum less brittle, darker, and more stable, eventually creating the transparent, amber-like resin known as copal or amber.

What influences the color of kauri gum copal and amber?

The environment determines its color. Fresh gum is golden, while older gum and copal may become darker and more opaque due to oxidation or mineral contact. Rare blue or green tones can also develop depending on mineral deposits.

Fun Facts

Could kauri gum bring back extinct creatures?
Just like in Jurassic Park, preserved specimens in fossilized gum could one day hold the key to understanding lost creatures. With current technology advancements extinct species like the giant moa or massive Haast’s eagle that used to prey on human, could live among us again one day soon, extracting ancient DNA from insects and fauna trapped in kauri gum could have could lead to amazing scientific discoveries .

What’s the largest piece of kauri gum ever found?

The largest recorded piece of kauri gum weighed over 90 kilograms, discovered in Northland, New Zealand.


How can you search for kauri gum?

Stab around fields, streams, dunes, and mangroves with a spear or spade. Feel for the satisfying crunch beneath the surface and carefully dig to uncover hidden treasures.

Why is kauri gum valued by some for its healing and grounding qualities?

Kauri gum has long been admired for its natural qualities. Many people use kauri gum in rituals or as a connection to New Zealand’s ancient forests. Its calming golden hues are thought to bring balance and help with focus during meditation or reflection.

How can kauri gum be used in everyday practices?

Incense: Burning kauri gum releases a pleasant, earthy fragrance, often used for cleansing spaces or creating a peaceful atmosphere.

Carving and Art: Kauri gum is used in jewelry and carvings, appreciated for its beautiful, natural appearance and subtle energy.

Guide to Determining Age and Quality of Kauri Gum

Sanding a small area of the gum and applying water can reveal its texture patterns and clarity to decide if usable for carving, dry it off after to prevent oxidization.

1. Using Fingernails, Teeth, and the Morse Hardness Scale

To test the hardness of kauri gum, use your fingernail or teeth. Fresh gum is soft and can be easily marked with your fingernail (about 2.5 on the Morse scale). Your teeth (around 5 on the scale) will leave marks on softer gum but won’t affect older, harder gum (like copal or amber). A harder object will leave marks on softer object.

2. The Torch Test

A powerful light, such as a torch, can be used to penetrate the exterior oxidization of the gum. Quality Jewelry grade gum will be bright whilst lamp or incense will not change much at all. The torch test helps reveal the interior clarity and quality of the gum by exposing it to a high-intensity light source. Older gum will also burn longer  or be more resistant to fire as its polymerization makes it more stable.

Grades and Grading Your Gum

The quality of kauri gum is determined by its age, clarity, color, shapes, patterns, inclusions and overall condition. High-quality gum is clear and free of cracks or inclusions, while lower-grade gum may have discoloration, cracks, or other imperfections. See below for the many different grades and colors of Swamp Kauri Gum 

Gum Grades, age, colour, oxidization & other imperfections all contribute significantly towards price of each of these grade types and colours prices are only rough guidelines.

AA Grade – (rarer older fossil inclusions)

Usually black or dark red (not to be mistaken for forest fire gum), this dense, hard gum has undergone mineralization through pressure and minerals in the water and soils, resulting in partially or fully fossilization. It is often found attached to rare, mineralized gum dense swamp kauri wood, which can, on very rare occasions, turn the wood grain green.

Practical uses: jewellery carving and lamps

Recommended treatment: oil

Price: N/A 

colours or types: Insect or plant inclusion gum, Black dark amber, Red dark dense Gum , Gum dense kauri timber or bark, Green Mineralized kauri timber, Petrified Kauri stone

A Grade – Jewellery grade clear gum

Practical uses: jewellery carving and lamps

Recommended treatment: oil

Price: can sell $30+ per gram for large polished or carved pieces or as quality made jewellery

colours or types:

Highly sought after in Crystal clear, with air bubbles ,worm trails, plant or insect inclusions colours range from Subtle clear yellow , Subtle clear orange, Pale pinks to reds all colours can be found swirled together 

B Grade – Partially Opaque (Smokey Clouded & some clear Gum)

Practical uses: jewellery carving and lamps

Recommended treatment: oil

Price: can sell $1-$10 per gram for large polished or carved pieces or as quality made jewellery

colours or types: white yellow orange brown  red

C Grade – Opaque (Smokey Clouded Gum)

Practical uses: carving and lamps

Recommended treatment: oil

Price: $1+ per gram carved or polished

Colours or types: white yellow orange brown red

D Grade – Half Translucent half oxidized

Available in white, yellow, orange, brown, red. This gum could potentially still be wet, they can take years to dry and will change colour over time and could end up being any grade of gum.

Practical uses: Carving and Lamps

Recommended treatment: epoxy to prevent further oxidization

Price: up to $1 per gram for large pieces

Colour or types:

E Grade – Non-Translucent

Available in white, yellow, orange, brown , red. This gum could potentially still be wet, they can take years to dry and will change colour over time and could end up being any grade of gum.

Practical uses: carving 

Recommended treatment: Sand a window into it, wait and see if it changes colour over time as it dries.

Price: $1 per gram for large pieces

Colour or types: white yellow orange brown red

F grade fragrance  gum – (crusty oxidized gum)

Practical uses: fragrance be suitable to carve after epoxy

Recommended treatment: epoxy or fire

colours or types: white to yellow

Price: less than 10c per gram unless large and workable

This gum has been exposed to the elements for too long and has fully or partially oxidized and will eventually crumble to dust if not treated, mostly viable for incense but take a gamble it could have solid gum inside. These can be found in large boulders and can be suitable for cutting and carving.

G Grade – ungraded or dirty gum

Practical uses: cutting or sanding and testing under light to grade it

Recommended treatment: water then dry it quickly after

colours or types: all

Price: 20c to 50 per gram depending on size

take a gamble it could have solid gum inside

H Grade – clay gum

Practical uses: cutting or carving.

Recommended treatment: oil

Price: 20c to 50 per gram depending on size

Colours and types: various colours of mottled white clay cream blacks yellows orange