{"id":107,"date":"2007-08-17T01:03:17","date_gmt":"2007-08-17T09:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cheldodge.net\/blog\/2007\/08\/17\/gemstone-of-the-day-jade\/"},"modified":"2007-08-17T01:03:17","modified_gmt":"2007-08-17T09:03:17","slug":"gemstone-of-the-day-jade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/lavajewelry\/2007\/08\/17\/gemstone-of-the-day-jade\/","title":{"rendered":"Gemstone of the Day: Jade"},"content":{"rendered":"

I decided to go ahead and tackle one of the more complicated gemstones. Jade is a bit confusing to buy because there are so many materials that are sold as “jade.”<\/p>\n

Two minerals, jadeite and nephrite, are known as true jade. Jadeite was used largely in Asia for ornamental purposes, and it forms in a whole range of colors (a lot of the jadeite I’ve seen lately is pale yellow or pale green, but jadeite has a much wider range of colors than that.) Quite a bit of nephrite is mined in British Columbia, and it is sometimes called BC jade<\/b>. Nephrite has a limited range of colors, from cream to green. Despite their outward similarities, nephrite and jadeite are very different minerals. Nephrite is an amphibole (magnesium-iron silicate), and jadeite is a sodium aluminum silicate. Nephrite is more common than jadeite.<\/p>\n

A lot of the stones now sold as jade are actually the mineral serpentine. These forms of “jade” go by many trade names, including Afghan jade, new jade, lemon jade, olive jade<\/b>, and yellow jade<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Candy jade<\/b> is a white stone (not necessarily any form of jade) that is dyed and irradiated to produce often bright colors.<\/p>\n

Korean jade<\/b> is a mineral closely related to true jade, in the amphibole (actinolite) family.<\/p>\n

African jade<\/b> is said to be grossular garnet, but in truth, it looks NOTHING like grossular to me. I don’t believe at all that it is grossular, but I couldn’t tell you what mineral it is.<\/p>\n

At some point soon, I will have to go on a tirade about gem trade practices. I think that names are intentionally confusing to trick customers into thinking they are getting a more valuable gem than they are getting. I will write a post about this at some point, including some of the trade names that I think are extremely deceptive.<\/i><\/p>\n

According to crystalsandjewelry.com<\/a>: “Jade is a stone of the heart. As such it is related to the heart chakra and has a beneficial effect on all heart chakra related issues. So, of course, it can attract and enhance love of all kinds. It is also a stone of fidelity and generosity. It is also considered to be good for the physical heart and for emotional balance and stability. Jade is also very helpful as a stone of abundance. Physically, jade is used to heal lung problems, kidney problems, immune system weakness, PTSD, and nervous system overwork.”<\/p>\n

Question of the Day:<\/b> Let me know if you think of any types of “jade” I have left out of this article. Let’s figure out what these “jades” really are!<\/p>\n

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