Our American culture is one of the few great cultures in history that have not embraced Jade as either a gemstone or a rock. We know little about its lore, history or value. We will briefly enter this world of Jade, or its given Chinese name, Yu.
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Click on the picture to catch a glimpse of Jade Merchants |
What is a rock, a gem? A rock is an aggregate of minerals. It is inorganic and occurs naturally in the earth. It has consistent physical properties and its own chemical formula. A gemstone by definition is rare and beautiful. The subject of jade is very confusing. It is the only gemstone/rock that has the same name with two chemically different species.
One species of jade is nephrite. As a mineral, it is an amphibole with a chemical formula of a Ferro magnesium silicate. The other species is jadeite. As a mineral, it is a pyroxene with a chemical formula of a silicate.
How did this happen? We have to investigate the historical events that began in the 1500’s with the Conquistadors exploring and invading the land of Meso–America. They saw that the Indians wore amulets to protect their kidneys. They took these amulets to Spain and gave this green stone the name piedra de ijada or stone of the loins. French was the official language of diplomacy and letters. Translated into French, piedra de ijada became pierre de l’ejade. For scientific purposes piedra de ijada again is translated into Latin nomenclature as Nephriticus, which means kidney. Thus this strange foreign amulet became known as nephrite jade.
At this same time the Europeans were going to China, bringing ancient and new carvings back to Europe. They, too, called this jade, nephrite.
The 1750’s saw the introduction of a new green jade. The country of Burma opened its borders and allowed this stone to be let out into the world. The gemstone had similar properties to the amulets from the new world but an “imperial” color. This jade became Jadeite.
The Industrial Revolution brought changes in all fields of endeavor. One usually only considers its effect on manufacturing. There were also tremendous advancements in scientific technology. In 1863, with the use of this new equipment, a man by the name of Damour discovered the differences in the two types of jade. He realized they are actually two totally different minerals. In consideration of the hundreds of years of incorrect nomenclature the scientists decided to leave the names as they were. We do know that Meso-American jade is jadeite, not nephrite; that Burmese jade is jadeite and that the Chinese jade is nephrite, not jadeite.
Nephrite jade is the toughest of all gemstones. It is easy to confuse hardness with toughness. A man called Mohs developed a scale to rate the hardness of minerals. Talc is the softest and diamond the hardest. Hardness is the resistance to scratching on a scale of 1-10. Toughness on the other hand is the resistance to breakage.
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