Jade Bangle

[soberguy]

Again I've read a grad jadeite isn't something that absorbs oil etc.

 

[yanaazul]

Oh. I've also heard that jade is sensitive to being overly dry. Maybe the color change with wear is related to oil or sweat over a long period?

There's a fine jeweler that used to be in Palo Alto, a Chinese family that had been have been jewelers for generations. I was idle-shopping one day, wearing a jade pendant that had been handed down from my great-grandmother, and the jeweler asked to see it. Said that it was very nice, but that it was also very thirsty, so I should go home and put it in a glass of water. For the fun of it, I did -- the next morning, there were many, many teeny tiny little bubbles over the whole surface of the jade under water, presumably the water displaced the air out of the porous stone. (I was curious, a few weeks later, I submerged a glass paperweight, a pewter ornament, and my jade in three glasses. Bubbles on the jade, no bubbles on the non-porous items.) For the record, I don't know if it appeared greener or not after having had its drink, it's a nice green to begin with...

And when I mentioned that I didn't wear it all the time, he did play up the wearing it would enhance it angle -- even suggesting I could rub my nose oil on it! When I wasn't wearing cosmetics, he said, and made a motion like rubbing his nose, and then rubbing a jewel in his hand. Like oiling an emerald, I suppose, but personal!

 

[chrono]

I heart, heart, heart ArtNouveau's ring. Stunning. As for the bangles, I love the ones that are not one consistent color, like the white ones with the bright green, like evergreens growing in the snow...

This is aptly called "moss in snow".

I read the following from the HK Jade Association:
If the jadeite is stored for a long time, recommend to soak it in cold water for few hours from time to time in order to retain its shine and glitter.
http://www.hkja.com.hk/en/about_jade.php

Unfortunately, it doesn't provide further explanation as to why an occasional cold water soaking works.

Untreated aka Grade A jadeite is not porous. The only thing that would make it bubble is if it has been bleached to remove brown iron stains, which leaves open pores along the grain boundaries. These "holes" are then impregnated with wax or some other resin.

Lots of eye candy and detailed explanation from SSEF, including how to spot Grade B, C and D jadeite.
http://hk.ssef.ch/fileadmin/Documents/PDF/HK_Jade.pdf

 

[minousbijoux]

I heart, heart, heart ArtNouveau's ring. Stunning. As for the bangles, I love the ones that are not one consistent color, like the white ones with the bright green, like evergreens growing in the snow...

This is aptly called "moss in snow".

Yes, even more apt! I love that name!

 

[yanaazul]

Thanks for the links, Chrono, and the notes about porosity. In the end, it doesn't particularly matter to me that my jade be completely untreated; like most Chinese immigrants in the early 1900s, my great-grandparents were from small villages in Guangzhou, so I doubt it they were buying priceless pieces from a fine jewelry standpoint yet it is certainly priceless to me. (Though I wonder when the whole bleaching/resin/polymer treatments started? As "polymer" sounds relatively modern.)

Here it is... We think it may have been a wedding gift to my great-grandmother (the gourd motif is for fertility); if it was, it would date it to around 1910 as her oldest child (my grandmother) was born in 1911. Or it may have been purchased sometime during my grandmother's childhood, but no later than 1920 as she remembered her mother wearing it when she was a girl. It was given to my grandmother when she married, then to my mom when she married, and then to me when I married. I feel very lucky to have it, as my mother is the youngest of many daughters, and I am one of many female grandchildren.

I like how the variation in color in the stone is disguised a bit by the contours of the carving -- the carver aligned the curves of the gourds along the color shading. My favorite part is that there is a white streak in the stone which was carved into a vine/leaf curling across a gourd (second picture, middle of the the bottom half of the pendant, picture didn't capture it well). Setting and bail are 22K gold, of course.

 

[chrono]

That's a gorgeous piece!

 

[yanaazul]

Thank you!

Oh, to have a matching bangle...

 

[Lee Little]

Beautiful to see the carver orient the colors to become character in the design, what an art!

 

[CDNinNYC]

This thread is really timely. I'm trying to learn more about an estate piece I have. It's a hinged bangle with a Ming's of Honolulu trademark. Is anyone familiar with what type of 'jade' they used in their pieces? I can't seem to find anything online. It looks to be porous, but other than that, I'm drawing a blank.

 

[soberguy]

Thanks to mason kay testing a few pieces, i thought it would be nice to show a few pictures of what treated jade surfaces look like vs untreated a grade jadeite surfaces. The first series of pictures are of a treated piece, and you can immediately see lots of cracks and "scuffs" on the surface. Following will be several A grade specimens and you can see their surface is lustrous and shiny shiny shiny. No cracks or abrasions. I am NOT an expert, I do not claim that this is proof of anything, I just thought it would be interesting. You will also see a GREAT difference in the skill of carving. And in the richness of the texture, another important factor in jadeite.

 

[soberguy]

This is my favorite piece. I am absolutely in love with it. The detail is exquisite, and the artist's use of the natural line of color was, in my opinion, genius. The nostrils, eyes, and teeth are particularly fascinating to me. The "coin" above his head is a rich vivid emerald green, while the "bat" is rusty.

 

[soberguy]

The fine detail continues on the back.

 

[soberguy]

Here is another pendant with a "Chilong" and a gourd. The texture of this piece is absolutely gorgeous. I forgot to mention the magical chime when you tap it with something : ) The treated piece has no chime at all, just a rock hitting rock sort of sound. I tried to take these pictures to demonstrate the surface differences. Notice how this piece has "flawless" shiny shiny surface vs the treated piece with its pockmarks and cracks.
The second piece is similar in subject as the chilong/gourd, again note the surface. I like how the artist used the orangy brown inclusion as the head of the chilong!

 

[pandabee]

yanaazul that is a gorgeous pendant! And such great history. My mom has quite a few jade pendants but none of them look as nicely colored as yours so I doubt they are high grade specimens.

soberguy very cool pieces! I love the high chime that the stones make...and the detail in some of these carvings is unbelievable. Thanks for sharing!

 

[corundum_conundrum]

LOVE the chilong.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

Chrono » 17 Jan 2013 07:19
Written by minousbijoux » 16 Jan 2013 15:30:
I heart, heart, heart ArtNouveau's ring. Stunning. As for the bangles, I love the ones that are not one consistent color, like the white ones with the bright green, like evergreens growing in the snow...


This is aptly called "moss in snow".

Much more elegant than "mutton fat" as I've been instructed to call whitish jade...

Between "mutton fat" and "pigeon's blood" the colored gemstone world has found some creative ways to describe beautiful things in the most macabre of terms.

 

[pandabee]

Chrono » 17 Jan 2013 07:19
Written by minousbijoux » 16 Jan 2013 15:30:
I heart, heart, heart ArtNouveau's ring. Stunning. As for the bangles, I love the ones that are not one consistent color, like the white ones with the bright green, like evergreens growing in the snow...

This is aptly called "moss in snow".

Much more elegant than "mutton fat" as I've been instructed to call whitish jade...

Between "mutton fat" and "pigeon's blood" the colored gemstone world has found some creative ways to describe beautiful things in the most macabre of terms.

I know right...what an awful name!!

 

[soberguy]

Thank you : )

 

[Lee Little]

I never could call it mutton fat with a straight face.
I have also heard the moss in snow called snow and grass. The bright green in this material does look more like grass than moss to me, however, I come from Ohio where we have lush bright green lawns and moss is usually rather dull. Best regards, Lee

 

[colorluvr]

This is my jade ring that I inherited from my mom, who inherited it from her mother. My grandfather bought it for my grandmother around the time my mom was born (about 86 yrs ago). It was "something" because my grandfather NEVER bought my grandmother jewelry. The setting is 22k and hand made. The design on the sides were peacocks, but due to the softness of the metal most of the intricate design is gone. My mother wore this ring a lot when I was young, so it is priceless to me, as I always remember loving this ring as a child, even though it's not the normal "sparkly" type of ring that I prefer.

She had it reshanked in 14k so she could wear it, (It is currently an 8 3/4) but as she got older and her arthritis got worse, so she stopped wearing it and went to 14wg/diamonds for all her jewelry.

A jeweler told her it was real jade, but I don't recall if he commented on the quality. It fits my pointer finger (but tightly). I'd love to wear it on my ring finger, but I hesitate to have it sized back down again. I imagine it would once again need to be shanked to get it to a 6 or 6.5 to fit.

Any idea of the type of Jade? (I know no one can give positive ID from a photo). I realize it's not the valuable (translucent) jade. The value doesn't matter to me, as this would be the last ring in my collection for me to ever sell, but I am always curious to know what I have. The only other "nice" jewelry that came from my mom's mom was a cameo ring in 14k. My sister has that one.

 

[Lee Little]

Very nice piece. I would guess it is untreated Jadeite, known as A grade. The colors are nice greens, a respectable stone. Best regards, Lee

 

[minousbijoux]

Colorluvr, that is a breathtaking setting! I love the design on the sides. The detailing is extremely fine. I can understand how important it is to you on sentiment alone, but I would love it just because its gorgeous.

 

[yanaazul]

soberguy, wow, that white chilong is unbelievably gorgeous! And I agree, the carving of the rust areas in the first piece is genius.

Begonia (OP), sorry we've hijacked your thread with non-bangles!

 

[chrono]

Colorluvr,
I have no idea if that's jadeite or its treatment, but it has one heck of a setting! No matter what, just the history of the piece is priceless. I know it'll be treasured regardless of what it turns out to be.

 

[dett]

I don't have any advice for buying online...in my limited jade buying experience, I learned that the most important thing was 1) whether the jade was treated (filled with glass or dyed). It should ring like a bell if you strike it against another stone. and 2) whether you like how it looks or not. The other thing about it is that once you start to wear it, the colors seem to intensify and become more translucent as it adapts to the wearer. Chinese tradition says that jade is alive, and if it is filled with artificial enhancements it won't have the same glowing effect, and it will also lose its "protective" effects (another topic altogether).

I saw a lot of the Burmese jade and I believe that was the more intense green. I ended up buying a white jade bangle. It's also known as "mutton jade" but it's actually never white when I wear it. It varies between a pale mossy green and a glowy light green (to the point where I had a coworker ask if I was wearing a glow-in-the-dark bracelet ).


I really wanted a translucent light green bangle but couldn't find one my size or in my price range. Also because if you buy bangles that are already translucent, those are going to be the most expensive. Most will become more clear as they are worn but it is hard to see that potential "off the rack" so to speak.

I just started to wear my new jade bangle and notice a change to milky or cloudy after a week.

Maybe I am absorbing Chi from the bangle. Hopefully it will clear up.

 

[chrono]

I just started to wear my new jade bangle and notice a change to milky or cloudy after a week.

That's odd; I've never heard of this happening as mine stays looking the same. Is it clean? After you wipe it, it remains cloudy?

 

[Silevie]

Jadeite mainly comes from Burma, many are being sold in China due to the huge demand by the Chinese.

Jadeite are graded by its Transparency/ variety , Color/ intensity/evenness , texture, presence of natural flaws, workmanship, weight and cracks (if any)

Jadeite grading requires experience and there's certainly way more factors to consider as compare to choosing a fine color gem.

 

[minousbijoux]

This is so timely that I had to respond!

If anyone wants to read a great nonfiction book about jade and its history, I recommend The Stone of Heaven: The Secret History of Imperial Green Jade by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, former reporters for The Sunday Times in London. The book is part history (the authors spent months if not years researching old archives to understand the precise history) and part adventure as they eventually go into Burma to find the real thing. I have not finished it yet (its formidable in size), but its hard to put down!

 

[partgypsy]

My mother has a jade ring , bezel setting in yellow gold. I'm think it was a hand me down because it only fit her pinky. My sister and I were kind of obsessed with it because it almost seemed to glow. I asked my Mom about it and she says she hasn't seen it lately. Definitely would pay to have sized it up to wear it. Now I feel like asking my Mom about it again.

For those pieces, how much of the value is in the stone, and how much is in the quality of the carving/historical provenance?

 

[Silevie]

My mother has a jade ring , bezel setting in yellow gold. I'm think it was a hand me down because it only fit her pinky. My sister and I were kind of obsessed with it because it almost seemed to glow. I asked my Mom about it and she says she hasn't seen it lately. Definitely would pay to have sized it up to wear it. Now I feel like asking my Mom about it again.

For those pieces, how much of the value is in the stone, and how much is in the quality of the carving/historical provenance?

When it reaches a degree of translucency/ saturation, it will seems to glow. That's the beauty of Jadeite. There's only value to it when it's of A grade (untreated, except only surface wax finishing) . As mentioned earlier, it's dependent on a number of factors as stated in my first post for valuation. A point to note, jade bangle will not be carved unless there are flaws to be be removed. Hence, in general, smooth finished bangle are more valued than the carved ones.

It will be helpful if you can post a picture of it.