How Much Do You Know About Chinese Jade?

Chinese jade is a comparatively modern stone, being carved to any great extent only since about 1750, such as the 12 Chinese zodiac signs jade carve and Chinese zodiac signs jade jewelries. It came to China from Burma, which is still the only important source for Jadeite. Gem quality jade today is actually Jadeite. It is renowned for its brilliant green color; its value today far surpasses that of nephrite, whose worth primarily derives from its antiquity. Both stones are extremely hard and durable. Chinese jade accepts a very bright and lustrous polish because of its microcrystalline structure, while nephrite usually has a waxy texture.

Chinese Jade is not well understood by many folks. If I told you that jade can be one of the most expensive of all gemstones, you would probably be surprised. Even jewelers who really know their way around the faceted stones have a hard time with jade, especially when we dont often see really good jade like this necklace.

Jade is actually two different minerals. Nephrite is the one we see most often in ancient Chinese carvings and artifacts as well as inexpensive jewelry items, while jadeite, discovered in Burma (Myanmar) in the early 1800s, is the more beautiful and valuable type used in fine jewelry.

Because of its toughness, jade is extremely difficult to carve: as the ancients said, it was worked with its own dust. Legend has it that men spent a lifetime creating the perfect carving that best used the material and wasted least. The Imperial Court, which forbids the general public from owning jade, employed its own staff of artists. It is said that the Empress Dowager owned 5,000 ebony boxes filled with jade jewelry.

Everywhere in China you can find Jade. They sell it in street corners, in subway stations, in supermarkets, and in jewelry stores. The most famous jade carve is the 12 Chinese zodiac signs jade carve. However, some Chinese zodiac signs jades carve costs as little as 1 Yuan. But some jades needs as much as 100k+ Yuan. Whether its black, blue, green, yellow or white, Jade is very shiny and alluring, though its often a mystery to foreigners and Chinese people alike. So how do you buy Jade without being cheated? I know it can be confusing so here is a brief introduction to the king of Jade that is emerald.

A Chinese proverb says There is a price for gold, but no price for jade one can put a price on gold, but jade is priceless. Even though there is no Jade standard like gold, emerald still has its price. Just like when buying clothes, you have to look at the textures and colors to judge the value. We call emerald color se, and when we talk about texture, we refer to the water in the Jade. These two things: color and water, directly determine the value of emerald.