Jade Jewlery
Jade has been a popular choice as the centerpiece of jewelry and ornaments for thousands of years, mostly in Asia and then later throughout the rest of the world as it was a tradable commodity.
Jade has never really lost its popularity and today new jade creations are almost as highly sought after as the antique collections. There are some truly beautiful and original jewlery creations on offer in the jade market and a well made piece has the potential to be an investment.
A lot of people don’t realize, however, that there are other minerals that look like jade and it can be very difficult to distinguish between them and the real thing. These simulated gemstones can either be natural minerals, or manmade versions – both have their place in costume jewelry and other decorative items.
There are actually two variations of what is considered as real jade, and these are jadeite and nephrite. The first one is the rarer of the two and can occur in many colors. Ranking 7 in the Mohs scale, jadeite is the harder of the two that does not break or chip easily and since it is rare, it is priced a lot higher than nephrite.
Nephrite ranks more or less 6.5 in the Mohs scale, still making it quite a hardy stone however, since this is the softer of the two types of real jade, nephrite ornaments usually come less polished.
Since jadeite and nephrite are regarded by gemologists as genuine jade, they are quite expensive compared to other minerals, although if you are really serious about expanding your collection of precious stones or if you gather them for investment purposes, genuine jade is definitely worth the investment.
Faux jade is the title given to other mineral stones which resemble genuine jade such as soapstone, serpentine, quartz, aventurine, grossularite, carnelian and chrysoprase. Although these are much cheaper than genuine jade, they are beautiful natural gems in their own right.
True faux jade is an artificial creation which looks like Jade and is often a cheap imitation. Dyed dolomite marble is the popular choice for faux jade manufacturers although polymer clay can be used to create artificial jade and the process for this can easily be done at home.
If created properly, faux jade can look almost as beautiful as the real thing – which is why there are so many manufacturers of reproductions out there.
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