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Jade ?
Sept 7, 2020 18:46:14 GMT -5
Post by stephan on Sept 7, 2020 18:46:14 GMT -5
I’ve always understood jade, whether nephrite or jadeite, to be one of the hardest stones to identify. This thread helps explain why. Thanks Stephan. That, and because there is a lot of counterfeit material sold as jade, or having trade names that include the name jade. One especially irritating one is "California jade," which is Vesuvianite. So, unless I see a more specific moniker (such as Big Sur jade, Sonoma Coast jade, Eel River jade...), I assume it Vesuvianite (var. Californite). |
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Post by Mel on Sept 11, 2020 18:45:34 GMT -5
I’ve always understood jade, whether nephrite or jadeite, to be one of the hardest stones to identify. This thread helps explain why. Thanks Stephan. This makes me feel a bit better; I always struggle with the green stones at face value. Backlit, I thought it might have been diopside. This thread has been super informative! |
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Jade ?
Sept 11, 2020 23:15:46 GMT -5
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Mel likes this
Post by stephan on Sept 11, 2020 23:15:46 GMT -5
I’ve always understood jade, whether nephrite or jadeite, to be one of the hardest stones to identify. This thread helps explain why. Thanks Stephan. This makes me feel a bit better; I always struggle with the green stones at face value. Backlit, I thought it might have been diopside. This thread has been super informative! Understandable. Diopside, though, is typically more transparent/translucent than jade, which tends to be more opaque/translucent. So, diopside should not need backlighting. I’m not even remotely an expert on diopside, but I’m pretty sure it tends to occur in smaller, crystalline pieces. A slab that size would be most impressive, I think. Interestingly, like jade, it is a calcium magnesium silicate. It lacks iron, though, which makes me wonder what causes the green color. It is a pyroxene, which makes it a relative of jadeite. Diopside, like vesuvianite is formed by contact metamorphism (proximity to rising magma), whereas jade is *usually* formed by subduction (there are exceptions, like Victorville jade). This means surrounding minerals are different, like olivine |
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Jade ?
Sept 12, 2020 12:43:51 GMT -5
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Post by Mel on Sept 12, 2020 12:43:51 GMT -5
. Diopside, though, is typically more transparent/translucent than jade, which tends to be more opaque/translucent. So, diopside should not need backlighting. I’m not even remotely an expert on diopside, but I’m pretty sure it tends to occur in smaller, crystalline pieces. I think you're bang on; I know that I've never seen any big pieces of it anywhere; though it's one of the stones I haven't specifically searched out either  . |
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NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,688
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Jade ?
Oct 2, 2020 9:17:47 GMT -5
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Post by NRG on Oct 2, 2020 9:17:47 GMT -5
Don’t know much about purple jade, other than that it is from Bursa, Turkey. It looks legit, with the caveat that it’s hard to tell from a photo. I haven’t heard much about there being counterfeit material, which is kind of surprising. There does not appear to be a consensus as to whether it is “pure” jadeite, or a rock. And it's mined out. Like about a decade ago they has dug every piece and set to china. I have a few hundred grand somewhere around here. Sad I can't get more. |
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