Specific Gravity of Grade B Jadeite

[Burmesedaze]

I find it impossible to evaluate jadeite online. I go to the jadeite market in Beijing sometimes with my aunt who is a collector and sometimes you just have to handle it to get a feel for the “water” of it. She will often judge by texture and feel as well as translucency. No idea how she does it lol. I swear one time I saw her lick one..

I had a good chuckle I've tried licking a few of mine after reading this but I have to admit, I can't tell the difference from licking!

 

[Burmesedaze]

Seaglow and I had a recent discussion on Maw Sit Sit (MSS) and the likes where the patterns are mesmerising. I told her that my jewellers have always advised me against getting any as they are less durable.

To them, if the jade is too "young", they tend to be dry and don't take a good polish. "Old" jade has finer grain and often more water. All water jadeite is "old" jade.

Yes, lavender is a compromise between colour, evenness and opacity.

 

[icy_jade]

Ok slightly off topic but I just got a lavender!



I don’t think the jadeite shows good ‘water’ or translucency but as @Burmesedaze has mentioned above, it’s about compromising as the color looks decently saturated.

 

[Burmesedaze]

Ok slightly off topic but I just got a lavender!



I don’t think the jadeite shows good ‘water’ or translucency but as @Burmesedaze has mentioned above, it’s about compromising as the color looks decently saturated.

Nice. I will go for colour too.

Did you try licking it?

 

[Bluegemz]

Seaglow and I had a recent discussion on Maw Sit Sit (MSS) and the likes where the patterns are mesmerising. I told her that my jewellers have always advised me against getting any as they are less durable.

To them, if the jade is too "young", they tend to be dry and don't take a good polish. "Old" jade has finer grain and often more water. All water jadeite is "old" jade.

Yes, lavender is a compromise between colour, evenness and opacity.

The feel of water jade definitely gives me the impression that water jade is older than rougher grain jade.....and rougher grain is definitely less tough. I’ve experienced it myself with a sugary, pink lavender bangle which broke.

I must admit though that I’ve questioned the age description though as an absolute truth, though I believe it is true much of the time. For example, In some cases, jade stays in the ground longer, getting re compressed, but I imagine grain is a result of the pressure during formation. Say that some jade is formed in an area with less pressure and different agglomerate minerals as compared with some that has more pressure, age would be the same but grain very different, ie rougher grain, less ‘water’. And, if boulders fall into a river, are they always older than jade which has rested in the foot of a cliff or in a mountain for millions of years, and don’t have the texture of river jade? For, not all erosion ends in boulders getting into rivers. And I imagine, if pressure was not enough during formation, without having been re pressured, no amount of time in the ground would give a good water quality.
If this were true, then it would also follow that alluvial sapphires are older than those found in the other places?
Just some musings, thoughts and questions Which I’ve always had about the matter...I always wonder if the age of jadeite can be assessed in other ways.

 

[Bluegemz]

Ok slightly off topic but I just got a lavender!



I don’t think the jadeite shows good ‘water’ or translucency but as @Burmesedaze has mentioned above, it’s about compromising as the color looks decently saturated.

Very sweet!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Here’s a description and photo from Christie :
https://www.christies.com/features/Collecting-guide-Jadeite-jewellery-9166-3.aspx

“
Why is jadeite so prized?
One of the reasons jadeite is so prized for jewellery is what is referred to as its ‘water content’ in Chinese. ‘The crystalline structure of jade is finer, enabling rays of light to penetrate the stone more easily to create translucency,’ explains Chiang. ‘This creates a reflection and refraction, causing the viewer to see something like water inside the stone itself, which is what makes jadeite so special, and so valuable.’

 

[Burmesedaze]

@Bluegemz The study and collection of jade goes back a good time ago so I imagine if we were to use today's rationality and questioning mind, we would wonder as such I don't regard "age" as an absolute but rather the formation process. Ultimately, no right and no wrong and lends to jade's mystique.

 

[Bluegemz]

• Referring to my last post, my point is that water in jade, though often related to time, may not always be dependent on time alone, but the processing conditions.

 

[Bluegemz]

@Bluegemz The study and collection of jade goes back a good time ago so I imagine if we were to use today's rationality and questioning mind, we would wonder as such I don't regard "age" as an absolute but rather the formation process. Ultimately, no right and no wrong and lends to jade's mystique.

Exactly what I’m thinking.

 

[ChaiK]

@icy_jade, I love love love your pieces of jade and new acquisitions.

I love jade because they come in so many types and colours. Some are highly prized becaue they are translucent and they glow.

But I like jade, if it is a bangle, with character - bold strong colours with changes.

If in a cabochon, I would love it to glow in a bright bright green and have translucence.

If there are pictures of water in jade please, please post. I love how this thread has taken off. Like a lot of water, less water, more water.... all very interesting to look at.

 

[Bluegemz]

@icy_jade, I love love love your pieces of jade and new acquisitions.

I love jade because they come in so many types and colours. Some are highly prized but I like jade, if it is a bangle with character - bold strong colours with changes.

If there are pictures of water in jade please, please post. I love how this thread has taken off. LIke a lot of water, less water, more water.... all very interesting to look at.

I’m with you...in bangles I love transitions, body and enough color. In jadeite, the bangles which I have that are most uniform are least interesting to me. However, in nephrite, the opposite is true! Oh the individuality of jade preferences.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I have a few jadeite pieces, my favorite is my "moss in snow" bangle.


Shown with a jadeite pendant



Here's my favorite example of "Water" in jadeite. You get the feeling that if you poked it, water would just flow out

 

[ChaiK]

@MakingTheGrade. These are lovely pieces.

But does water than mean colourless icy and glassy jade?

So where would that leave the green jadeite? Does that mean, pale translucent green is better than strong green?

I love that bangle. Really really beautiful.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

@MakingTheGrade. These are lovely pieces.

But does water than mean colourless icy and glassy jade?

So where would that leave the green jadeite? Does that mean, pale translucent green is better than strong green?

I love that bangle. Really really beautiful.

You can have a strong green and still a high lever of "Water"

Top photo has less "water" than the lower


And this ring has a strong green jadeite cab that I wouldn't call pale. It will of course not be as dark as something that is opaque.

 

[icy_jade]

I wish I can find detailed articles like the Chinese ones on baidu but the closest in English is this:

http://www.lotusgemology.com/index.php/library/articles/270-lotusgemology-com-jade-buying-guide

The ones in Chinese provides details re how to evaluate color (several factors), what are the varieties of jadeite called depending on quality factors like grain, translucency, etc (玻璃种 glassy、冰种 icy、芙蓉种、金丝种、干青种、花青种、豆种、油青种、马牙种), what the different color combinations are called etc etc. My Chinese sucks so I don’t completely understand everything but whatever little I can read is really quite interesting.

 

[icy_jade]

Nice. I will go for colour too.

Did you try licking it?

I’ll pass on the licking. Looking should be sufficient

Waiting for delivery and hopefully I will like it.

 

[ChaiK]

I’ll pass on the licking. Looking should be sufficient

Waiting for delivery and hopefully I will like it.

Please post a picture of it when it comes. It would be interesting to see.

 

[icy_jade]

@icy_jade, I love love love your pieces of jade and new acquisitions.

Thank you! I’m still very much learning too.

It’s very personal what type of jade appeals to each person. I have seen and disliked some pieces of really expensive patterned jade and “lao keng” (old mine) jade for example. But they are so pricey they must be highly valued in the jade world. On the other hand I love even pure colors - and I have a pure white nephrite bangle that I really quite love to wear.

Please post a picture of it when it comes. It would be interesting to see.

I will. Fingers crossed I love it. It’s a nice simple design and quite wearable so hopefully I love the color irl.

 

[Bluegemz]

I adore white nephrite. A whole world of softness and pure beauty which is a world apart from jadeite.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Water?



Less watery?



I wrote wet by mistake at first

 

[prs]

From the photos posted I get the impression the stones described as having most water are also very translucent.
Are "water" and "translucence" pretty much the same thing?

 

[peacechick]

From the photos posted I get the impression the stones described as having most water are also very translucent.
Are "water" and "translucence" pretty much the same thing?

I think it’s a combination of being very translucent and fine grained that can be called watery. There are also translucent bangles that look like crushed ice and some look like starchy water.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Yeah there’s also “glass” which is more analogous to transparent versus “water”.

Lol why is jade so tricky.

 

[prs]

The darker lavenders usually don’t come transluscent. In general, lavender hardly comes transluscent. It’s a nice rich color indeed but opaque with a high price tag. I’ve been studying Type A lavender jade pricing and anything darker than usual even opaque has a high price tag. Any transluscent material with a noticeable lavender shade, also high price tag.

This is exactly what the lady at Mason-Kay told me, here are photos of their three best pieces. In my view the first two pieces have the best color, and they are both priced in the high four figures.

However this third piece, while smaller and with less color and no setting, apparently has much more even color, better luster, and as much translucence as you are ever going to get in a lavender jade cabochon. It is priced well into five figures.
I think, for lavender jade, I prefer better color over translucence!

 

[Bluegemz]

Hmmm...those strike me as too expensive, and the third one doesn’t look very translucent ( though I can imagine that it is ) and also too expensive. Now that you know what they have, I think you can do a lot better.

 

[Bluegemz]

Here is another seller who happens to have jadeite as well.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/468467253/oval-1279ct-lavender-burmese-jade?ref=shop_home_active_45

 

[peacechick]

Yokdee had this gorgeous translucent one in her shop but it has since sold.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

I don't know how much @Bluegemz got hers for but her very plump cab has much better colour than the Mason Kay ones which don't wow me at all.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

You're all making me want lavender danglies with this talk of lavender even though I can't see them going with anything!