Jade meets diamonds in this mid-century jade and diamond pendant in 14K gold.
Jade is the only famous gem name that covers two different minerals: jadeite, the rarer and often more translucent, and nephrite, the tougher classic of Chinese carving. Both are legitimately jade; both have been treasured for millennia; and around them has grown the most treatment-and-imitation-rich market in the gem world. A dealer's honest jade article is therefore mostly a caution article, and here it is.
Two minerals, one name
| Jadeite | Nephrite | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A pyroxene mineral; the "imperial green" stone | An amphibole; the historic carving jade |
| Look | Can be vividly green and semi-transparent | Typically softer greens, creamy "mutton fat" whites |
| Toughness | Very tough | The toughest gem material known: felted fibres |
| In vintage Western jewelry | Cabochons and beads in gold mounts | Carvings, bangles, beads |
| Price range | Pennies to fortunes; top imperial green is world-record territory | Broad but calmer |
Toughness is jade's superpower and its historical resume: it does not chip like crystalline gems, which is why it became the carving stone of civilisations, and why a jade bangle can survive decades of daily wear that would destroy anything else, the cabochon and bead forms suiting it perfectly.
The treatment alphabet every buyer needs
Modern jadeite trades under an A-B-C code that vintage buyers inherit. Type A: natural jade, at most a surface wax, the honest article. Type B: acid-bleached and polymer-impregnated, prettier today, structurally compromised and dimmer tomorrow. Type C: dyed, colour that fades and concentrates in cracks under a loupe. B and C jade is common, often beautiful, and worth a fraction of A, and none of it is detectable with certainty at home, certification from a serious lab is simply how significant jade is bought. The vintage market's small mercy: pieces demonstrably mounted before the 1980s predate the modern B-treatment industry, so genuinely old Western-mounted jade skews honest, one more reason era evidence, mounts and marks, matters doubly here.
The imitations, and the home checks that help
Serpentine, aventurine quartz, prehnite, dyed calcite and plain glass all trade under flattering jade-ish names, "new jade", "Indian jade", and the vocabulary is the warning: real jade needs no nationality prefix. Home checks that genuinely help: temperature, jade is notably cold and slow to warm; heft, dense for its size; the clink test on bangles and beads, jade rings with a resonant chime where glass thuds; and the loupe, looking for glass bubbles, dye in fractures, and jade's subtle felted texture. None of these certify, all of them screen, and the full screening mindset is the same as every gem-honesty guide on this blog: evidence stacks, certainty comes from instruments.
Vintage jade in Western mounts
The pieces I handle are the mid-century Western treatment of jade: cabochons and carved plaques in 14K and 18K gold, often beside diamonds, the East-meets-cocktail-hour style the featured pendant embodies. Buying them well: judge the jade by colour evenness, translucency and surface polish; judge the mount by its own rules, marks, construction, era; and price the combination honestly, remembering that most vintage Western jade is charming commercial grade, not imperial anything, and is priced happily as such. The treasures exist, old A-jade of fine colour in good gold, and finding one underpriced because the seller only read the mount is the kind of small victory this hobby lives on.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between jadeite and nephrite?
Two distinct minerals sharing the name jade: jadeite (rarer, potentially vivid and translucent) and nephrite (the historic, supremely tough carving stone). Both are genuine jade.
What does Type A jade mean?
Natural jadeite with no treatment beyond surface wax. Type B is bleached and polymer-filled, Type C is dyed; both are worth far less and need lab testing to identify reliably.
Is old jade always untreated?
Not always, but demonstrably pre-1980s Western-mounted jade predates the modern treatment industry and skews natural, which is one of the vintage market's quiet advantages.
How can I tell jade from glass at home?
Cold slow-warming touch, real heft, a resonant chime from bangles and beads, and no bubbles under the loupe. These screen well; certification decides for significant pieces.
Why is some jade so cheap and some so expensive?
Colour, translucency, texture and treatment: top natural imperial-green jadeite sets world records while commercial jade is affordable. The name alone tells you almost nothing about price.
Can jade break?
It is the toughest of gems and shrugs off knocks that shatter crystals, but it is not invincible: hard impacts can crack bangles, and dropped jade on tile has its casualties. Toughness is resistance, not immunity.
Read next: What is a cabochon? · How to tell if a diamond is real · What is a cocktail ring?
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