“Its color represents loyalty; its interior flaws, always showing themselves through the transparency, call to mind sincerity; its iridescent brightness represents heaven; its admirable substance, born of mountain and of water, represents the earth. Used alone without ornamentation it represents chastity. The price that the entire world attaches to it represents the truth.” Book of Rites

In the Shi Jing (Book of Odes), Confucius wrote:

“When I think of a wise man, his merits appear to be like jade.”‘ Book of Odes

Thus, beyond monetary worth and materiality, jade is greatly prized as it stands for beauty, grace, and purity. As the Chinese saying goes: “gold has a value; jade is invaluable.”

Types of Jade

Jade is classified into soft jade (nephrite) and hard jade (jadeite). Since China only had soft jade until jadeite was imported from Burma during the Qing dynasty (1271–1368 CE), the term “jade” traditionally refers to nephrite, and so soft jade is also called traditional jade. In pre Columbian America, only hard jade was available; all Indigenous jades are jadeite.

Jade is a mineral used as jewelry or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white.  Jade is well known for its ornamental use in East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian art. It is commonly used in Latin America, such as Mexico and Guatemala. The use of jade in Mesoamerica for symbolic and ideological ritual was influenced by its rarity and value among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Olmecs, the Maya, and other ancient civilizations of the Valley of Mexico.

The jade trade in Myanmar consists of the mining, distribution, and manufacture of jadeite—a variety of jade—in the nation of Myanmar (Burma). The jadeite deposits found in Myanmar’s northern regions are the source of the highest quality jadeite in the world, noted by sources in China going as far back as the 10th century. Chinese culture places significant weight on the meaning of jade; as their influence has grown in Myanmar, so has the jade industry and the practice of exporting the precious mineral.

Myanmar produces upward of 70 percent of the world’s supply of high-quality jadeite. Most of the Myanmar’s jadeite is exported to other nations, primarily Asian, for use in jewelry, art, and ornaments.

How Does Jade Form in the Earth?

Jadeite and nephrite are minerals that form through metamorphism. They are mostly found in metamorphic rocks associated with subduction zones. This places most jadeite and nephrite deposits along the margins of current or geologically ancient convergent plate boundaries involving oceanic lithosphere.

Plate tectonics is a theory that the Earth’s surface is made from a series of plates, which float on the Earth’s liquid mantle. It explains many natural phenomena such as volcano clusters, earthquake producing faults (or cracks in the surface of the Earth), and the locations and height of many mountain ranges. 

Because these tectonic plates float, they also move and occasionally collide with one another, and this is where “subduction” zones are created as one tectonic plate slides beneath another plate. “Subduction” occurs when two tectonic plates collide, and one ends up under the other. The lower plate will take the stone to depths where the necessary intense pressure, heat and minerals will eventually form it into jade. A high pressure, low temperature metamorphic environment is necessary to form the stone known as nephrite or jadeite.

The composition and structure of these two jade varieties are quite different. Nephrite (Mohs hardness 6)  is composed mostly of interwoven mineral fibers, while jadeite is composed of interlocking granules.

Nephrite is also a form of actinolite, which is composed of minerals like sodium, calcium, titanium, manganese, magnesium, iron, silicon, aluminum, hydrogen and oxygen, along with water. However, the presence of copper, chromium and iron gives colors ranging from subtle grey-greens to brilliant yellows and reds. Its surface tends to look oily and smooth with little pitting. It is often found in California, British Columbia, Taiwan, Russia, Alaska and in New Zealand. Its hardness on the Mohs scale is about 5.5 to 6. The Mohs scale measures the hardness of stones on a scale from one to ten.

Jadeite (Mohs hardness 6.5) , rarer than nephrite, which was very rarely used in China before the eighteenth century ,is a much simpler mineral made of aluminum, pyroxene, chromium, sodium, iron, oxygen and silicon. About forty-five percent of each of these jades are composed of oxygen. It is chromium that gives jadeite its deep rich green coloring. It is about a 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale, which makes it closer to quartz. It is found in fewer locations worldwide, usually in places around Burma and Guatemala

Jade Types and Treatments

For thousands of years, the people who manufacture and sell jade objects have found many ways to improve their appearance. Heat, wax, dye, bleach, acid, polymer injection and other treatments have all been used to improve the color, luster and stability of jadeite and nephrite. Although many of these treatments are part of traditional jade manufacturing processes, today’s serious buyers of jade want to know about all treatments that were used in the manufacturing process.

Commercial jadeite objects are placed into three “types” according to the treatments that have been used during the manufacturing process. They are designated as Type A, Type B and Type C jadeite.

Type A Jadeite

Type A jadeite objects have been treated with a coating of wax. This is the most traditional jadeite treatment. It is expected and accepted by serious buyers and generally does not impact the value of a jadeite object. In this treatment, manufacturers boil finished jadeite objects in water to clean them and prepare them for an application of wax. The objects are then dried and dipped into molten wax. The wax fills any surface-reaching pores and fractures. When the objects have cooled, excess wax is removed and the objects are buffed to a bright luster. The wax fills surface irregularities and gives the object’s surface a smooth, lustrous finish.

Type B Jadeite

Type B jadeite objects have been bleached by soaking in hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. The acid removes oxidation stains and leaches out sodium. This lightens the color of many materials. Pressure is then used to impregnate the jadeite with wax or a clear polymer resin. Impregnation fills all surface-reaching pores and fractures and gives the object an improved smoothness, luster and color.

Unfortunately, the appearance of Type B jadeite objects can begin to deteriorate in just a few years. Acid treatment makes some jadeite brittle, and polymer resins can discolor with time or exposure to heat and sunlight. Because of these problems, Type B jadeite treatment should always be disclosed when an object is sold, but many items are sold without disclosure. This lack of disclosure is because Type B jadeite objects normally sell for a small fraction of the price paid for a similar Type A object. Sellers often get away with nondisclosure because Type B treatments are difficult to detect. Testing at a gemological laboratory is often required for detection of Type B treatments.

Type C Jadeite

Type C jadeite usually has all of the treatments of Type B jadeite, but the object has also been dyed to a more desirable color. The dyes can fade over time or with exposure to heat and light. For these reasons, Type C treatments should always be disclosed.

Dye treatment can often be detected by examination with a microscope, spectroscope or gemological filters, but this testing should not be needed – the seller should disclose the full extent of treatment for every object that is sold. Disclosure doesn’t always happen because Type C jadeite sells for a small fraction of similar objects with Type B treatment.

Materials Confused With Jade

A number of other minerals and materials that are commonly cut and polished are easily confused with jade. All of these materials can have a color, luster, and translucence that is very similar to jade so similar that the average person is unable to recognize them. These materials are often used to manufacture cabochons, beads, and other objects in the same style as jade. They sometimes enter the market with and without disclosure. They are often marked with the name “jade” or with one of many misnomers.

Chalcedony is a translucent variety of microcrystalline quartz that occurs in a range of colors similar to jade. Chrysoprase is a bright green chalcedony colored by chromium that, when cut into cabochons, beads, and small sculptures, will look very similar to jade. Chalcedony occurs in a variety of other translucent colors such as black, lavender, yellow, and orange that can look like the color varieties of jade. Chalcedony can be a very close gemstone look-alike with jade. It can be differentiated from jade using is lower specific gravity and by a variety of instrumental methods.

Serpentine occurs in a variety of wonderful translucent to nearly transparent green and yellowish green colors that look very much like jade. It is a metamorphic mineral that is often found in the same geographic areas and same types of rocks as jade. Serpentine is significantly softer than jade and also has a much lower specific gravity.

Vesuvianite has a color and a greasy luster that fool unknowing people into thinking it is nephrite.

Vesuvianite, also known as idocrase, is another jade look-alike that is very difficult to distinguish from jade without laboratory testing. It has similar hardness, specific gravity, and physical appearance. Vesuvianite is not nearly as tough as jade and will break more easily – but that requires destruction of the specimen.

Maw Sit Sit is a rock composed of jadeite, albite, and kosmochlor (a mineral related to jadeite). It has a bright chrome-green color and accepts a bright polish. For those reasons it is used as a gemstone. Maw sit sit was first properly identified in 1963 near the village of Maw Sit Sit in northwestern Burma in the foothills of the Himalayas. This is the only location where it has been discovered to date. It is used to cut cabochons and produce small sculptures. Because of its scarcity and low production, it is rarely seen in jewelry.

Maw Sit Sit is a rock with a bright chrome-green color mined in Myanmar. It has a very similar appearance to jade. Maw sit sit is composed of jadeite, albite, and kosmochlor (a mineral related to jadeite). It is used to cut cabochons, beads, and make small sculptures, and is easily confused with jade.

Hydrogrossular Garnet is a green massive variety of garnet that is usually green in color with black markings. It looks so much like jade that in South Africa, where it is common, it is known as “Transvaal Jade.” It is frequently cut into beads, cabochons, and small sculptures.

Aventurine is a trade name used for a green quartz that is often colored by fuchsite inclusions. These typically color the quartz a light to dark green color and produce some aventurescent sparkle. Aventurine is sometimes confused with jade. It is sometimes referred to by the misnomer of “Indian Jade.”