Jade: The Real Deal, or Fake?
There's an awful lot of non-jade being represented as the real thing out there on the web, these days. Both in bead and finished jewelry form. It irritates the heck out of me to see other people misrepresenting their jewelry as being made with jade when it is obviously not actual jade, and is instead New "Jade" or Mountain "Jade" or any other form of a stone which is NOT jade, and is instead a cheaper, softer material such as serpentine. Serpentine is very nice on its own, but it also has a Mohs rating of like 3.5, whereas actual, real jade has a hardness of 6-7 and is a much longer lasting stone which is also less likely to be scratched. Real jade is also a helluva lot more expensive than any other misnamed substitute, so for someone to misrepresent his/her jewelry has having been made with jade when it hasn't is a big deal. It's downright thievery. I use New "Jade" in my jewelry, but it's labelled and priced accordingly; people who are selling faux-jade jewelry for ridiculously high prices really piss me off; they are counting on your ignorance to make themselves money, and that is not right. So for those of you who do not know the difference, here's a little something informative I've put together.
Green is the color most commonly associated with this beautiful, generally opaque (you can't see through it) stone, but it’s also found in many colors, lavender, orange, black, and white and green veined among them. In fact, the material we call jade is actually two distinctly different minerals, jadeite and the slightly "softer" nephrite. In point of fact, nephrite is actually a form of actinolite, but its structure is very different from that of other varieties of the mineral. Oddly enough, it was almost 4,000 years before anyone discovered that what everyone was calling by the single name of jade was actually two different stones. That didn’t happen until in 1863, at which point it posed a dilemma: which stone should be termed jade, and which should be renamed? Since the two minerals had been in use for roughly the same amount of time, everyone decided to just keep calling them jade. But the Chinese, who started with the nephrite form, designated jadeite as new jade*. Indeed, today’s collectors still use the terms old jade and new jade to refer to nephrite and jadeite, respectively.
*Not to be confused with New Jade, which is actually serpentine.
Several other stones are often incorrectly represented as jade. Some unscrupulous sellers will label the green form of aventurine as jade, and chrysoprase, with its vibrant opaque to semi-translucent (semi-"clear") greens is oftentimes either mistakenly or purposely labeled jade or Australian Jade, but is in reality the most valuable form of the mineral chalcedony. South African, African, or Africa, Jade is actually a lush green grossular garnet which is as hard as jadeite, and also called Transvaal Jade, but again, it is not actually jade. Other stones are also becoming more and more "acceptably" labeled as "jade", but it should be noted they are not truly any form of the mineral. These include Malaysia Jade, actually translucent (you can easily see light through it) quartz which has been permanently dyed and may be called by its color – Red Jade, Yellow Jade, Blue Jade; Mountain Jade, which is opaque dolomite marble from Asia and is also dyed in vibrant colors; and various forms of opaque to semi-translucent serpentine. One light green form of serpentine is often called New Jade, and another darker yellow-green form Olive Jade, but do not confuse them with jadeite; they are not at all any form of jade. Scrupulous dealers will label these false jades as "Jade" (with the quote marks), but do not assume this to be the case. When purchasing jade, it is always safest to shop from reputable dealers and ask!
Jadeite is actually rather rare, and is considered by many collectors to be the true jade. The most expensive and desirable jadeite comes from Myanmar, formerly called Burma. It is often called Burmese Jadeite, Burma Jade, or Chinese Jade, as since the late 18th century, it has been mined in Myanmar and then sent to China for cutting. (To give you an example of price, I just picked up some small jadeite pendants just a little larger than the size of a nickel, fairly thin, very light green-almost-white, I got them as close to wholesale as I can get short of flying to Burma myself, and they were still $3 each. By contrast, New "Jade" would have cost a buck.) The most valuable form of jade, Imperial Jade, comes from Myanmar. It is renowned and collected for its rich emerald green color. Jadeite is also mined in small quantities in Guatemala, Mexico and Lake Baikal, in Russia, while deposits of nephrite in British Columbia have produced beautiful green gem-quality stone – sometimes called British Columbia Jade. 75% of the world’s jade comes from the mines of British Columbia, but nephrite is also mined in Taiwan, Canada, and the United States, with a small portion found in Australia, which also mines the green form of chalcedony sometimes referred to as Australian Jade.
Jade is an incredibly durable and tough stone, rating from 6 – 7.0 on the Mohs scale, with jadeite the harder mineral of the two, and the “dividing line” at 6.5. It is wonderful worn in a variety of manners, but care should be taken not to bang it about with other jewelry, due to its hardness. Because it is such a smooth stone, jade makes lovely cabochons and pis – round, donut-shaped medallions. Because of its amazing toughness and durability, prehistoric man made weapons and tools out of jade, and its use in that manner prevailed until the advent of iron. The Chinese also considered jade a sacred stone, and frequently used it in the making of sacred items, as it was believed to bless whatever it came into contact with. In the Mayan and Aztec cultures, it was a sign of power, wealth and status. Many cultures throughout history and the world have long believed jade to hold powers of good luck and magical protection, and amulets of jade are often worn to balance the yin and yang, aid in spiritual attunement, or to aid the wearer in finding wisdom. Still today, jade represents comfort and elegance, and is used as a symbol of excellence and purity. It is the mystical birthstone for the month of March and one of the birthstones for the zodiac sign of Virgo, and is an appropriate gemstone gift for 12th, 30th, and 35th anniversaries. Legend even has it sleeping with a piece of jade beneath one's pillow will help in the remembrance of dreams to allow for a realization of potential...sleep with jade beneath your pillow and your dreams will come true!
And sweet dreams - and real jade - to you,
Jenie
Green is the color most commonly associated with this beautiful, generally opaque (you can't see through it) stone, but it’s also found in many colors, lavender, orange, black, and white and green veined among them. In fact, the material we call jade is actually two distinctly different minerals, jadeite and the slightly "softer" nephrite. In point of fact, nephrite is actually a form of actinolite, but its structure is very different from that of other varieties of the mineral. Oddly enough, it was almost 4,000 years before anyone discovered that what everyone was calling by the single name of jade was actually two different stones. That didn’t happen until in 1863, at which point it posed a dilemma: which stone should be termed jade, and which should be renamed? Since the two minerals had been in use for roughly the same amount of time, everyone decided to just keep calling them jade. But the Chinese, who started with the nephrite form, designated jadeite as new jade*. Indeed, today’s collectors still use the terms old jade and new jade to refer to nephrite and jadeite, respectively.
*Not to be confused with New Jade, which is actually serpentine.
Several other stones are often incorrectly represented as jade. Some unscrupulous sellers will label the green form of aventurine as jade, and chrysoprase, with its vibrant opaque to semi-translucent (semi-"clear") greens is oftentimes either mistakenly or purposely labeled jade or Australian Jade, but is in reality the most valuable form of the mineral chalcedony. South African, African, or Africa, Jade is actually a lush green grossular garnet which is as hard as jadeite, and also called Transvaal Jade, but again, it is not actually jade. Other stones are also becoming more and more "acceptably" labeled as "jade", but it should be noted they are not truly any form of the mineral. These include Malaysia Jade, actually translucent (you can easily see light through it) quartz which has been permanently dyed and may be called by its color – Red Jade, Yellow Jade, Blue Jade; Mountain Jade, which is opaque dolomite marble from Asia and is also dyed in vibrant colors; and various forms of opaque to semi-translucent serpentine. One light green form of serpentine is often called New Jade, and another darker yellow-green form Olive Jade, but do not confuse them with jadeite; they are not at all any form of jade. Scrupulous dealers will label these false jades as "Jade" (with the quote marks), but do not assume this to be the case. When purchasing jade, it is always safest to shop from reputable dealers and ask!
Jadeite is actually rather rare, and is considered by many collectors to be the true jade. The most expensive and desirable jadeite comes from Myanmar, formerly called Burma. It is often called Burmese Jadeite, Burma Jade, or Chinese Jade, as since the late 18th century, it has been mined in Myanmar and then sent to China for cutting. (To give you an example of price, I just picked up some small jadeite pendants just a little larger than the size of a nickel, fairly thin, very light green-almost-white, I got them as close to wholesale as I can get short of flying to Burma myself, and they were still $3 each. By contrast, New "Jade" would have cost a buck.) The most valuable form of jade, Imperial Jade, comes from Myanmar. It is renowned and collected for its rich emerald green color. Jadeite is also mined in small quantities in Guatemala, Mexico and Lake Baikal, in Russia, while deposits of nephrite in British Columbia have produced beautiful green gem-quality stone – sometimes called British Columbia Jade. 75% of the world’s jade comes from the mines of British Columbia, but nephrite is also mined in Taiwan, Canada, and the United States, with a small portion found in Australia, which also mines the green form of chalcedony sometimes referred to as Australian Jade.
Jade is an incredibly durable and tough stone, rating from 6 – 7.0 on the Mohs scale, with jadeite the harder mineral of the two, and the “dividing line” at 6.5. It is wonderful worn in a variety of manners, but care should be taken not to bang it about with other jewelry, due to its hardness. Because it is such a smooth stone, jade makes lovely cabochons and pis – round, donut-shaped medallions. Because of its amazing toughness and durability, prehistoric man made weapons and tools out of jade, and its use in that manner prevailed until the advent of iron. The Chinese also considered jade a sacred stone, and frequently used it in the making of sacred items, as it was believed to bless whatever it came into contact with. In the Mayan and Aztec cultures, it was a sign of power, wealth and status. Many cultures throughout history and the world have long believed jade to hold powers of good luck and magical protection, and amulets of jade are often worn to balance the yin and yang, aid in spiritual attunement, or to aid the wearer in finding wisdom. Still today, jade represents comfort and elegance, and is used as a symbol of excellence and purity. It is the mystical birthstone for the month of March and one of the birthstones for the zodiac sign of Virgo, and is an appropriate gemstone gift for 12th, 30th, and 35th anniversaries. Legend even has it sleeping with a piece of jade beneath one's pillow will help in the remembrance of dreams to allow for a realization of potential...sleep with jade beneath your pillow and your dreams will come true!
And sweet dreams - and real jade - to you,
Jenie
posted by Jenie at 2:27 PM
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