Jadeite fans?

[MakingTheGrade]

I''m a big fan of jade (jadeite to be specific). I''ve been to gem markets in Thailand, pearl markets in China, but my favorite of all is the jade market! I love looking at all the bangles and rings and pendants, they glow with this inner radiance, and the artistry in the carvings can just take your breath away. And the sound of jade clinking together is just lovely, if it wasn''t so expensive, I''d make a jadeite wind chime, lol. I was sad that "Secrets of the Gem Trade" didn''t have a jade chapter :/ But I understand, jadeite can be tricky to evaluate, and it''s not as popular in the Americas as it is in Asia.

Anyways, I have a hard time finding jadeite in the US, but I saw this ring online (in just my size!) and thought it might be a good match for my bangle, and it wasn''t very expensive, so I got it and I''ll keep my fingers crossed until it gets here If they match then I''ll have a nice little set! My favorite color of jadeite is "moss on snow", basically a darker green patch on nearly white, translucent jade, like my bangle. Right now "glassy" jadeite is all the rage in China, but I prefer my jade a bit more translucent than glass.

So here''s the ring and the pics of the bangle. Hopefully it''ll be a good match

 

[mochi]

That is lovely! Very pretty!

 

[jkarnes]

I am a huge fan of jade, I make reproductions of traditional Maya, Aztec, Zapotec, etc. ear flares and labret pieces (worn in the lip) from rare Guatemalan jades.

That piece would be considered glass jade, very popular in Asia. If you can ever get a hold of some Christie''s Hong Kong jadeite auction catalogs you''ll see exquisite examples.

The material I work is primarily hues of rare blue and lavender, and others with interesting pattern from the Motagua River valley in Guatemala. Here are a few examples:

http://images.onetribe.nu/_custom/jadeite/newjades2/lightbluegray11lb.jpg

http://images.onetribe.nu/_custom/jadeite/newjades/true-blue-snowstorm.jpg

http://images.onetribe.nu/_custom/jadeite/newjades/sapphire_blue.jpg

http://images.onetribe.nu/_custom/jadeite/newjades/marbledorangegreen.jpg

I have a large collection of Pre-Hispanic antiquities made from jadeite and other important greenstones from the area.. interesting tidbit - the Olmec were the only culture to use the blue hued jadeites, the Maya and most of the other Mesoamerican cultures revered the vibrant green material. The blue is now very, very rare.

http://images.onetribe.nu/_antiquities/finals/index.php?page=0

That link is part of my antiques collection, which had a lot of jade in it. Ages of the pieces in the collection range from 40 to 3000+ years. Neat stuff!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Very cool, I"ve never seen blue jadeite before. It''s a little tricky for me when I go back to China because in Chinese we have many terms for different kinds of "jade", I tend to think of "fei cui" as correlating closet to our designation of jadeite, but I''ve never seen true blue jadeite before, at best it''s a light purple or green that looks bluish depending on lighting. Very interesting though, does the blue ever come in semi-transluscent material or is it always opaque?

I''m wondering if anyone knows any sources in the US that sell jade cabochons of reliable quality such as in the picture below? Call me odd, but while I love the white semi-translucent and glowy quality, I''d actually want something that had an inclusion or two of green in it, I feel like it gives it some personality

 

[arjunajane]

I adore lavender jade and would love to own some one day.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 4/4/2009 10:29:40 PM
Author: arjunajane
I adore lavender jade and would love to own some one day.

Did you see the lavender jade ring Sally has up on Hearts of Water? I tend to like my jade more translucent than that seems to be, but it''s a pretty shade of lavender I think
Lavender jade ring

I''ve been on the hunt for a "moss in snow" cabochon with a translucent white background. Surprisingly hard to find in China even, lol, those pieces tend to get carved (like the pendant below) to make use of the mossy contrasts. And generally speaking, I think they tend to value cabochons that are more evenly colored and clear, they''d probably purposely avoid the mossy area when cutting a cabochon to up the value. I could be wrong though, I just haven''t seen many.

 

[chrono]

My favourite are the clear ones ice-like pieces, followed by the ones with an intense green (but absolutely clear). Of course I can afford neither.

The problem with buying jade is that there's so much undisclosed treatments and good ones are so difficult to find. I think it's even more difficult than gemstones (or pads of that matter)!

 

[jkarnes]

I've got a huge (for this type of jadeite) piece of lavender that is probably about half a pound. Color in the photo is a little off, it looks too blue, but it's the nicest bold lavender with little other inclusion. I just made a heart shaped cabochon for my fiance from it recently. Here's the rough (along with some little round pieces)

http://images.onetribe.nu/_custom/jadeite/lavenderjadeite.jpg

I've also got some unique black jadeite with pyrite inclusions.

http://images.onetribe.nu/_custom/jadeite/newjades/pyrita.jpg

We've got quite a bit of stuff sitting around. This is from my last buying trip to our dealer.

http://images.onetribe.nu/_custom/jadeite/newjades2/allnewjades.jpg

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 4/4/2009 11:01:50 PM
Author: Chrono
My favourite are the clear ones ice-like pieces, followed by the ones with an intense green (but absolutely clear). Of course I can afford neither.

The problem with buying jade is that there''s so much undisclosed treatments and good ones are so difficult to find. I think it''s even more difficult than gemstones (or pads of that matter)!

When I was shopping for a bangle with my aunt at the jade market, I saw a few of the ice-like pieces, they were selling for 10k+. It was crazy since as far as I could tell, there isn''t any GIA/AGTA type of institute in China that certifies these things in a standardized manner. I could be wrong, but even my aunt who has spent thousands of dollars on her jade collection only has the certs that came with the stone, assuming there was one at all. I guess a lot of it has to do with trust, the particular market we were at had a policy that they only carried Grade A jade, and if you were sold something that was later found to be treated in any way, you were guaranteed double your money back and that particular vendor was kicked out of that market. Personally I thought it sounded kind of gimmicky.

I actually wasn''t too taken with the icy ones, they looked so much like clear quartz, lol. I love myself a little bit of veining It''s just personal preference though. I thought it was funny that if you visit the Chinese museums, most of the jade pieces from past dynasties were nephrite rather than jadeite.

 

[icekid]

I don''t know much at all about jadeite (why isn''t it popular here??) but I like to look

I love your bangle, MTG!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 4/5/2009 9:27:09 AM
Author: icekid
I don''t know much at all about jadeite (why isn''t it popular here??) but I like to look

I love your bangle, MTG!

I don''t know why it isn''t popular here, probably because it doesn''t sparkle? You can''t facet it? It''s hard to buy here?

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 4/4/2009 10:49:07 PM
Author: MakingTheGrade

Date: 4/4/2009 10:29:40 PM
Author: arjunajane
I adore lavender jade and would love to own some one day.

Did you see the lavender jade ring Sally has up on Hearts of Water? I tend to like my jade more translucent than that seems to be, but it''s a pretty shade of lavender I think
Lavender jade ring

I''ve been on the hunt for a ''moss in snow'' cabochon with a translucent white background. Surprisingly hard to find in China even, lol, those pieces tend to get carved (like the pendant below) to make use of the mossy contrasts. And generally speaking, I think they tend to value cabochons that are more evenly colored and clear, they''d probably purposely avoid the mossy area when cutting a cabochon to up the value. I could be wrong though, I just haven''t seen many.

MTG,
I did see that ring, and imho it seems quite reasonably priced? But I don''t know much about this material..
I love just that colour, sigh..

I think when I have a wedding, this colour will have to be involved somewhere

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 4/5/2009 9:56:44 AM
Author: arjunajane


MTG,

I did see that ring, and imho it seems quite reasonably priced? But I don''t know much about this material..

I love just that colour, sigh..

I think when I have a wedding, this colour will have to be involved somewhere

I think the price is pretty reasonable, especially since the price of gold is currently so high. And the color is just beautiful. If lavender was more my color, I''d be awfully tempted. Although it seems to lack a bit of translucency, then again, the price probably reflects that.

 

[chrono]

I think it''s not popular for many reasons:
1. Poor marketing
2. Doesn''t sparkle
3. Bad/ugly product is very common/easily found
4. No "history" unlike in Asia

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 4/5/2009 10:43:31 PM
Author: Chrono
I think it''s not popular for many reasons:

1. Poor marketing

2. Doesn''t sparkle

3. Bad/ugly product is very common/easily found

4. No ''history'' unlike in Asia

True on all counts unfortunately :/ Oh well, maybe some day that''ll change In the mean time, I''m going to stubbornly adore jade
I"m thinking of getting this cabochon for a project, not sure what yet.. Maybe set it in a pendant of some worth. This one is "icy" as opposed to "glassy" like the other round cabochon I posted earlier.

 

[jewelerman]

Im a huge fan of jade...especially white,black,green, moss on snow,and some deep yellow.Is a gem thats underappreciated here in the states.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 4/6/2009 12:01:15 PM
Author: jewelerman
Im a huge fan of jade...especially white,black,green, moss on snow,and some deep yellow.Is a gem thats underappreciated here in the states.

I agree I love the limpid quality of translucent jade, talk about gems of "finest water"!

 

[jkarnes]

Date: 4/5/2009 10:43:31 PM
Author: Chrono
I think it''s not popular for many reasons:
1. Poor marketing
2. Doesn''t sparkle
3. Bad/ugly product is very common/easily found
4. No ''history'' unlike in Asia

There is a ton of history in the Americas as far as jade is concerned - the Maya, one of the most advanced civilizations to have existed, revered jadeite as sacred, one of their most valuable natural resources. When the Spanish invaded the middle Americas, the Maya offered their most valuable asset: imperial green jadeite, and the Spanish laughed and demanded gold and other precious metals of much less value to the natives.

The history that surrounds these materials is why I am drawn to them, from an anthropological point of view. I am not particularly interested in the super gemmy Asian Nephrite varieties - I prefer the intense greens and pale blues, densely colored lavenders of the Central American materials. Asian Nephrites tend to have much higher translucency than the Central American jadeite - that''s not to say that you won''t find gemmy material, because I have small amounts of it, but by and large the material coming from this side of the ocean tends to have a larger grain structure. It comes in a huge variety of colors and most of them were used to create the items we now see as artifacts.

Here''s a neat spread of ceremonial axe head shapes in a variety of colors, and a set of traditional ear flares in the background.

http://asifweknow.com/images/2009/20090302-P3022720.jpg

A set of very pretty traditional style ear flares I made late last year from a fairly translucent ice blue:

http://images.onetribe.nu/_custom/jadeite/78bluejademayantunnels.jpg

 

[grapegravity]

Good thread~~ I''ll share some of my jade too....

the colour of the bangle is more watery and purple IRL....

 

[grapegravity]

this pic shows more of what I see...

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Very pretty lavender! Just out of curiosity, do you wear your bangle everyday?
In China there''s this folk saying that the more you wear your jade, the more beautiful and translucent it will become, they call it "raising" the jade, lol. My aunt buys into it, and wears hers everyday, she also ascribes to the belief that jade brings you protection and harmony.

I wear mine everyday just because I love it so much I do occasionally bang it on something though, whoops.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Here are some pics of me wearing my bangle. My ring shipped out today so hopefully I''ll have a nice set like you do Grape!

 

[grapegravity]

Hey makingthegrade, yes I do wear my bangle everyday.. as for the ring, I rare wear it as it''s a bit bulky... I got the bangle as my birthday present from FI 2 years ago and the ring was from my siblings

Here''s another jade piece that I wear everyday...

 

[grapegravity]

...

 

[grapegravity]

btw, your aunt is correct on how the more you wear your jade, the more beautiful and translucent it will become.. because in the previous pic of my kwan yin, you can see the "cotton" inside of the jade and these pics was taken by my seller.. but I wear it overtime, the cotton actually become less and less... and now, there's barely any...

your set looks nice too~~ hopefully you'll have some pics to show us soon~~

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 4/6/2009 9:57:47 PM
Author: grapegravity
btw, your aunt is correct on how the more you wear your jade, the more beautiful and translucent it will become.. because in the previous pic of my kwan yin, you can see the ''cotton'' inside of the jade and these pics was taken by my seller.. but I wear it overtime, the cotton actually become less and less... and now, there''s barely any...

Hmm..I wonder if there''s a chemical explanation or basis for that.

 

[grapegravity]

I tried to do some research in Chinese awhile back.. some sites states that the change of the color are due to the body heat...

Some say the heat brings out the "color root" (direct Chinese translation) of the jade over time as you wear it...

One great example of this color change is another kwan yin pendant that my gave me years ago, and I in turn, gave it to my fiance... When I first receive it, it was white base with little light green lines on it... and after I gave it to FI, the light green lines has expanded all over the pendant and now, it''s totally green!!!

 

[chrono]

Thanks for sharing your jade pieces. It''s so uncommon to see them on PS.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 4/6/2009 11:28:17 PM
Author: grapegravity
I tried to do some research in Chinese awhile back.. some sites states that the change of the color are due to the body heat...

Some say the heat brings out the ''color root'' (direct Chinese translation) of the jade over time as you wear it...


One great example of this color change is another kwan yin pendant that my gave me years ago, and I in turn, gave it to my fiance... When I first receive it, it was white base with little light green lines on it... and after I gave it to FI, the light green lines has expanded all over the pendant and now, it''s totally green!!!

You''d think if it was due to body heat, then jade would be heat treated more regularly somehow, lol.
Eek, I wouldn''t mind my bangle losing a bit of it''s cotton, but I definitely hope the moss doesn''t take over and turn the whole thing spinach color! Lol. I''ve only been wearing mine for a a few months now, so far no noticeable changes. I wonder if bangles change slower (if they do change) since they''re much larger.


It is an interesting phenomena though, wonder how it works..

 

[chrono]

The green on mine doesn''t seem to change but I''ve only been wearing it for 2 years. I guess it needs more time to "mature"?