I have about 55 pieces of jadeite ranging from low texture, tone and translucency, from tourist grade to "Imperial Color" that were popped from gold jewelry by a pawnbroker. I did do SGs and spot readings to verify. None of them are newer than 10 years old, which is when he gave them to me. He didn't think much of jade.
Mason-Kay charges $70.00 for an email report which is their cheapest price. I need to make a determination about which of them would be worthwhile to send off and which aren't.
Some are large, some small, some damaged, some perfect. What I want to know from you guys is which ones are worthy. For example, I have 6 marquis cabs that only weigh about 1 carat or less, 5 damaged, with darker than optimum tone, less the optimum translucency and good texture, non-reactive under lw and sw, with no visible indications of bleach or dye at 30x. If, by any stoke of luck, they were Grade A, are they worth the price of their certification? Which leads to the question: At what color, translucency, and texture (and size) should I disallow before sending any of them out as not worth the money?
This is my other question: Does anyone know of any resource that is out there on the internet that could show me what untreated jadeite looks like under magnification? I have searched here and on Lotus and read Mr. Hughes paper and done several searches on bing and google. There is one piece I have that shows very fine wispy dark lines under magnification with virtually no surface cracks; where there was one, there was no color in it. I don't know if the fine lines could be a natural feature or dye.
Some of them are easy to set to one side; they look like crackled marbles with a loupe, others aren't that great a color or texture and some are completely opaque. On the few that I thought were good I used the spectroscope to look for the lines and extinction to indicate dye, but it was back when I didn't know much and I should do it again. From what I've been reading, the dyes have gotten better and don't show up like they did, is that true?
I do have a friend that has a Raman but it needs to be calibrated; I found a reference here that showed the Raman would help weed out the expoxied jadeites. Should I just wait until she gets it up and running? She also has the Hanneman Jadeite filters which would help (if I knew how to use them, I don't think they have the instruction manual that's supposed to be with them). If I can, I'll try to get some close-ups on her Dazor; I don't have anyway to show you guys what I'm seeing.
I'll do them one at a time as there are so many. The pictures aren't great. I'll have to pause soon and cook dinner.
This little Buddha has good color but is barely translucent. He weighs 6.265 cts and has no discernible bleach or dye under magnification. He's well-carved and polished.
Cylinder 18.75 cts, good color, translucent to semi-translucent, no discernible bleach or dye, excellent finish. This has the odd, tree or branch like wisps in it.
The photo doesn't capture the fabulous glow that this one has. It looks great across the room. If it's treated, they did an excellent job.
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Last edited by Debbie K on Mon Mar 18, 2019 10:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I don't believe that they will have very much value if they are treated. Yes, primarily interested in whether or not they've been treated. Pawnshop stuff is such a crap shoot, you can get good and bad stuff set in gold.
I think that the two that have the most potential are the little Buddha (the first piece) and the cylinder, if they are untreated. They both have an inner glow that the photos don't capture.
Let's say, for arguments sake, that the six marquis are grade a. I can easily rework them and they'd probably weigh .65 to .75 cts when I'm done; how much, really, would they be worth? Unless they're worth more than $70, there's not much point in testing them. Does anyone know what this quality of jade is going for?
Debbie
More to come... two tear drops under .5 ct and one .915 ct marquis. The good one also has a beautiful glow.. can't see any treatment.
Seven lozenge shapes; all but one don't appear to be treated. One looks like it's been bleached by not dyed; in the last box on the left. Weights between 1.25 and 4.25 cts.
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
One can not reliably determine polymer and dye with visual inspection .....although there are some who think they can. The only instruments which will positively identify polymer are infra-red spectrometers (like Mason-Kay use) and raman (which I use)
Where do you live Debbie? If you are close to SF we can arrange something.
Not close at all, Barbra. I'm in Texas. Guess I'll wait for my friend to get her Raman calibrated. It'll separate them pretty quickly.
But what about my other question? Do smaller stones like these have any value? I would imagine the larger ones would, if grade a. I've looked around but there are so many things that are fake out there, I can't tell what real grade a would be worth. Does anyone have any thoughts? I could make a really nice necklace or bracelet out of those pieces, otherwise.
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