For many prospective buyers, however, jade’s myriad quality points can be confounding. Evaluated on its color, transparency and texture, the material comes in two forms, jadeite and nephrite.
Jadeite is the name for a kind of pyroxene rock that some in the gemological community insist should be called by its traditional Chinese name, fei cui. It is mined in Central America and Myanmar, the source of the world’s most valuable specimens, including the prized variety known as “imperial jade” because, in China, only the emperor could own that specific shade of green. Jadeite, or fei cui, is found in a rainbow of hues, including green, lilac, pink, brown, red, blue, black, orange and yellow.
Nephrite, an aggregate rock made mostly of tremolite with a bit of actinolite, is more common. It is found in many locations, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Russia and New Zealand, and ranges in color from olive green to cream. The best quality, called “mutton fat,” is near white.
Both are tough, fine-grained rocks that lend themselves to carving.
A Fresh Supply
Earlier this month in Tucson, Ariz., during the annual gem shows in that Sonoran Desert city, the buzz among jade lovers centered on a fresh supply of translucent jadeite, or fei cui, from an ancient deposit in Guatemala — much of it blue-green, but some virtually indistinguishable from the imperial jade of Myanmar, said Richard W. Hughes, a co-owner of Lotus Gemology in Bangkok, and a co-author of three books on jade.
At his booth at the Tucson Gem Show on 22nd Street, Luke A. Miller, the owner of Yax Tun Minerals, a dealer in Chiapas, Mexico, that specializes in Guatemalan jade, took a strand of blue-green beads from around his neck and held it to the light. The beads, which were graduated in size, featured dark blue-green gems interspersed with lighter ones.
“This is a color we call ‘sapphire blue,’” Mr. Miller said, referring to the darker beads, which looked translucent against the light. “The folks down there call the lighter color ‘celestial blue,’ or ‘celeste.’”
