How to care for a jade bangle?

[lisaC]

I have always lusted after a jade bangle- I''m half chinese- and my husband presented me with one yesterday. I absolutely love it and thank goodness because it''s pretty much on for good now as I have serious doubts as to whether I can get it off again without causing serious bodily injury!

And no I cannot return it as he bought it in China. So how do I care my bangle as I will be wearing it 24/7?
I would appreciate any advice,
lisaC

 

[Cave Keeper]

Soap and water should do the trick, unless it has been treated with fillings and dyeing. Then perhaps oil?

 

[valeria101]

It was about time to hera about a jade bangle around here! Congratulations for the nice gift

Any chance there might be a picture somewhere on your HD ?

 

[lisaC]

Thanks Cave Keeper. I have no idea if it''s A, B or C grade, the laminated card it came with is in chinese and I will have to wait to ask a friend if she can translate.

Ana I will try to post a picture once my husband gets back from visiting the inlaws- he took the camera and I''m technically useless anyway.
Lisa

 

[Rube]

Please do post a picture! I am very interested in seeing it.
Congratulations on your bangle

 

[Cave Keeper]

Date: 8/19/2005 8:30:34 AM
Author: lisaC
:
I have no idea if it''s A, B or C grade,
:

Hi, Lisa

And I have no idea what A, B or C grades are!

 

[flopkins]

lisa- Most of the women I know who wear jade bangles don''t really do anything special to take care of it, esp if it''s a one piece bangle, which it sounds like it is. I second the mild soap and water - like in the shower or something.

My mom always told me that the natural oils from your skin are supposed to ''polish'' jade quite well and bring out the color... I have no idea if that''s true or not but it sounds good to me! hehe.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 8/19/2005 12:26:24 PM
Author: Cave Keeper

And I have no idea what A, B or C grades are

There are no rules, so each shop can define these differently, but most often the three letters seem to be used to describe degrees of treatment: A means no treatment except oiling, B indicates presence of some treatment but no added color, C indicates presence of color (-adding) enhancement regardless if other threatments are there as well.

There is a pretty good (and short) description of these things at Palagems.com.

Somehow I suspect there is allot of detail aside this - with degrees of quality and pricing getting rather complicated within each of the A,B,C categories. At least between B and C lines get blurred easily, since some of the bleaching used as part of the treatments meant to improve translucency and texture also removes stains that would otherwise detract from the otherwis desirable color.

As far as I know, the usual 'better' jade is B grade. There is little of the A category because little looks great without help - as usual. The price difference between B and C is substantial and sophisticated color treatment makes them difficult to tell apart.

Actually, it is hard to id jade enhncements anyway! What else is new... Some pieces are treated just to make them look attractive, not 'natural' and those are easy to tell for what they are. Unfortunately, articles dealing with jade treatments tend to focus on such cases and give them as examles. Of course, these are good examples, but the important ones are those made to look like something they are not. And there is no shortage, IMO.

 

[thebanjodog]

lisa. i am so glad to see your question. i have two jade bangle bracelets. i understand the not taking them off as i wore mine once and thought it was going to be permanent.

i know nothing about them. they were a gift from chinese visitors at my husband''s plant. i am sorry to say i discarded the box and put them with the rest of my jewelry. at that point in time we were receiving many chinese gifts as there were many visiting the plant.

i don''t do pictures but if you are able to post yours i will surely compare mine as now you have peaked my interest. i have really been luck today with others posting questions that have sparked me to get a couple of long not thought of pieces from the jewelry chest. thanks! banjo

 

[Cave Keeper]

Date: 8/19/2005 12:45:44 PM
Author: valeria101

Date: 8/19/2005 12:26:24 PM
There are no rules, so each shop can define these differently, but most often the three letters seem to be used to describe degrees of treatment: A means no treatment except oiling, B indicates presence of some treatment but no added color, C indicates presence of color (-adding) enhancement regardless if other threatments are there as well.
:
Author: Cave Keeper
And I have no idea what A, B or C grades are

Thanks, Val101

Interesting to know that grade A covers the most opaque stones with lots of different-looking areas to the most translucent and pure medium green monotone color ones, as long as they are not treated in any way, except for grinding, polishing and oiling.

 

[lisaC]

Finally - a picture of my bangle... So sorry it took so long. I love it''s translucency and the colour looks like the bluegreen of the veins on the back of my hand. At night in the light of the tv it just glows!
Lisa

 

[valeria101]

Wow! I love how it stays close to the wrist, even if this means some trouble taking it off (hopefully still possible!).

The color I see on my computer screen doesn''t even have a name... sadly. Your description sounds lovely though.



Thanks for posting

 

[Kaleigh]

It''s very pretty Lisa. I love jade. Nice thing about it you don''t have to do a lot to take care of it as others have already mentioned. From another Lisa

 

[lisaC]

Thank you Ana and Lisa!
It is hard to capture the colour. Heck the carpet in the picture is actually creamy white not taupe as it looks...
Lisa

Oh and getting it off isn't so bad as long as I soap up really well- but I have only taken it off once!

 

[Hest88]

Congratulations. The old Chinese women I know never take off their bangles and really don''t do anything to them so I can''t help. I third the soap and water thing, though, since that seems closest to what most ppl do!