 The gum varied in color depending on the condition of the original tree . It also depended on where the gum had formed and how long it had been buried . Colors ranged from chalky @-@ white , through red @-@ brown to black ; the most prized was a pale gold , as it was hard and translucent . The size of each lump also varied greatly . Swamps tended to yield the small nuggets known as " chips " , whereas the hillsides tended to produce larger lumps . The majority were the size of acorns , although some were found which weighed a few pounds ; the largest ( and rarest ) were reported to weigh half a hundredweight . Kauri gum shares a few characteristics with amber , another fossilised resin found in the Northern Hemisphere , but where amber can be dated as millions of year old , carbon @-@ dating suggests the age of most kauri gum is a few thousand years . 
