UV test on jade—is it really reliable?

[shelovesinclusions]

Wow thanks for the great pics. Didn’t know about Albite. I think with wax it’s still considered type A?

Just curious if your B jade was disclosed or did it come with some fake/unreliable cert?

It had a Chinese cert from one of the big labs, and showed up in the web database through the legit website as A grade. When I contacted the seller, they just sent me my money back with no message and then their online shop closed about a week later.

I think a problem with the unscrupulous vendors is that they have a legit jade (usually a pretty uniform colored piece), then forge that cert for other, treated jade. That way, when you look it up on the database, it looks legit. I mean, I guess there are always unscrupulous labs, too, but I thought many of the Chinese ones go through a state certification and have some additional lab accreditation notes.

 

[GuitarGirl22]

Purple could just be a reflection of the UV. I think fluorescence refers to green glow.

I looked again with a new light I purchased on Amazon. It didn’t glow like a glue stick, just lavender color which could be the reflection of the UV. There were two tiny specks (like pin points) of fluorescent green. Maybe it’s not as bad as I thought??

 

[voce]

I looked again with a new light I purchased on Amazon. It didn’t glow like a glue stick, just lavender color which could be the reflection of the UV. There were two tiny specks (like pin points) of fluorescent green. Maybe it’s not as bad as I thought??

UV light is light, and bangles also reflect light.
Here's a photo of the bangles I tested on the white styrofoam.
The top left is Type A I bought from Burmesedaze, another fellow PSer and collector. The purple there indicates reflection. The bangles on the top right is the one I suspect of treatment, which I sent back.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

So I changed the batteries on my UV light and shone it on all my bangles.

Nothing very exciting. None of them glowed except for one or two tiny pin heads per bangle. The size of a speck of dirt. I am guessing this is either wax or some sort of impurity that grew in the jade.

 

[MMtwo]

I am adding this here for future research. I had lavender beads that had a few beads that did fluoresce. They were tested by Mason Kay and were type A untreated. So it is possible. I did notice the UV pattern was random and streaky, only a few beads had strong UV. I tested with acetone and washed in ultrasonic to make sure it wasnt wax. This is under UV flashlight with my lavender bangle.