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Does anyone have suggestions on how to quickly clean dirt off of antique jade pieces?

I was told it's best to let the pieces sit in baby or mineral oil for 1 - 2 weeks and then remove the piece and scratch out the dirt from the crevices using a tooth pick. This seems kind of time consuming.

I was wondering if one used an old toothbrush after removal from the oil if this would hurt the polish on the jade?

Do you think using tooth paste and a brush would be too abrasive?

Thanks!
Tim

Buy a sonic cleaner and sink the piece in soapy water.
The Ultrasonic cleaner usually cost between $50-200

the ultrasonic vibrations will loose all the dirt and grit caught in even the minute cracks not visible to the human eye.

Tim, warm, soapy water and a toothbrush will work fine.Sorry to say that this is not an antique carvings, as it is not finely carved, and the colour...I am thinking. Maybe someone recognizes this stone.It looks like Jadeite..but...
Ernest

Two more things I noticed, the grooves look like this piece is colour treated, and generally it looks like Maw Sit Sit. Perhaps clean it, then post it, showing both sides.
Ernest

Hello Tim
I have had to resort to using nail polish remover (acetone)to remove lacquer from the surface of the jade, put there to increase the sheen. After the cleaning treatment, the jade may look (I hesitate to use the word "jaded") dulled and even powdery. I find a smear of vaseline rubbed over the object will revive its translucent look.Don't use tooth paste as this is a grinding medium and will alter the surface of the original jade. What I try to do is remove all the gunk of ages to get back to the original surface and no more.
James

Hi All,

Been very busy, but thanks for the replies so far! Will write more later, but my main goal is to remove the dirt, not the original polished finish, so acetone is out for me.

I also read on a website on jade not to use ultrasonic cleaners. They didn't say why, but I'll assume that the vibrations might cause the jade to crack if there are internal cracks inside?

Tim

Hi!

I finally had time to clean a bunch of my recent jade acquisitions using an old tooth brush to scrub the dirt encrusted areas after soaking them in baby oil for almost a week.

After, I rinsed the pieces, rewashed them using Dawn dish washing liquid soap and scrubbed them with the brush again. For the most part the dirt came out except for very tight crevices that I had to use a pin to scrape out the dirt. I got most of the dirt out, but a bit remains in some of the pieces.

James, I was wondering if you would recommend soaking or just dabbing the dirty crevices with acetone? I am now considering this as I have read that if a piece has been dyed the acetone will remove the dye color and reveal the piece as being grade C.

I hope not to remove any possible finish whether wax if it is or not, just the dirt.

As for the quality of the carving, the above piece is rather pedestrian, but I have other pieces that I bought that seem to me better carved. Please check my website when I have had a chance to post these other pieces and you can give an opinion on whether or not they are well carved?

I can't see how a determination of the age of the piece can be made on the quality of the carving? I have swords in my collection that are poorly made and about 80 years old and recently made ones that have better quality steel and fittings.

My friend who helped me pick some of the pieces said for Burmese jade the color being natural with many vibrant colors is more important than the age of the pieces. The quality of the carving helps, but there are a lot of modern well carved Burmese jade pieces where the stone is very white without much color costing hundreds of dollars. She thinks my pedestrian piece with better coloring was a better deal than the poor quality well carved modern pieces that can be found in the typical jade shop.

The above piece is definitely Burmese jade and not Maw Sit Sit. The picture can be deceiving, because of the dirt in all the grooves, but as one can see from the cleaned piece it looks a lot different and there is no added color in the crevices.

Thanks all!
Tim



URL Title :Jade Before Cleaning & After Images

Hello Tim
When I use acetone, I use a kitchen paper towel, dipped in the acetone, and rubbed over the piece.
It saves on the acetone used, just be careful how you dispose of the towel as I have had a waste paper bin exploding when a colleague tossed a cigarette stub in the bin!
Acetone will probably remove the wax on the piece. I collect old jade and find the wax can be brown and has collected bits of gunge, dust etc. which detracts from the colour of the jade.
I see that you soak your pieces in oil, but remember some waxes are soluble in oils.What type of oil is it?
I also use a wooden tooth pick rather than a metal point to clean the grooves just in case the piece gets damaged. If your pieces are jadite, it is hard, but there is a danger the needle will chip a corner off by a lever action rather than due to hardness of the point, where as wood has more give in it, with the cocktail stick more likely to break rather than the jade.
Nephrite jade may be scratched by a steel point, so be careful.

As to quality of the carving as a reflection of age,it is a way of helping to distinguish genuine old pieces, eg. Han dynasty, from modern fakes which have been made using modern tools. However, there are good fakes and poor fakes, and the good fakes are very well made.This is in the tooling sense, but the carving ,in the sense of design, flow, liveliness is also a key to dating a piece.Fake carving can (but not always)look flat and mechanical. This is something which comes with experience to guage.
Determination of age(fake or not) depends on a number of criteria, and at the end may be due to "gut" feeling.The piece looks right.But, there is no 100% guarantee if the piece is acquired outside a documented and verifiable provenance.
One thing my experience has found is that price is no reflection of genuineness.My most expensive pieces have sadly turned out to be fakes!

James

A friend with over 30 years of jade collecting experience recommended using baby oil to soak and clean the jade pieces. Baby oil is made of mineral oil.

Sam Bernstein, of the famous Bernstein Jade Co. in San Francisco recommended I use Squibb's mineral oil, and not to use acetone on the jade.

I'll hopefully be talking to him in person next week and to get more information.

I switched to wooden toothpicks from the metal pin in all, but the really tight crevices. I'm just scrapping off the dirt, not trying to pry it off.

Thanks for the help!
Tim

More instructions on how to clean jade from Sam Bernstein at Bernstein Jade Art co.:

Jades absorb a lot of extraneous junk like body oil, dust, environmental pollution, etc.

Take the pendant and place some liquid soap with lukewarm water and gently brush the pendant with a soft toothbrush. Rinse completely with clean water. Then apply a light coating of mineral oil. Wipe off the excess with a soft cotton cloth.

Sam recommended Squibb's Mineral oil.

Tim, you show only one side of the carving.I want to see both sides. My thinking is that this piece could be a mixture of Jadeite and Maw Sit Sit, as I have items like that !!
Ernest

hi tim,

i have looked at after-cleaned photos in your link.
where green color found are in spots and not even color.
the green shade happens unnaturally at some streaks and looks too bright.
especially, the background of the stone is white like this.
i afraid that this piece may be dyed

just a comment.
regard,
senztone

The stone is not as white as the picture. The flash made the stone look white. Actually the stone is more of a very light green and light greenish yellow in the light areas.

I'll be bringing this to show a friend over the weekend now that it's clean to get her view on this piece. She has been collecting over 30 years and used to have a jade shop in San Francisco Chinatown.

I wouldn't be to upset if it's maw sit sit because Maw sit sit is rare and isn't easy to find, primarily because it is currently found only in that single location of Burma. Because it is so rare, it is a popular gem among collectors but is not readily available through most jewelers. Because the gem is rare, it is typically set into gold rather than silver. It looks beautiful in either metal color, which explains why a few collectors have also had stones set into platinum. The gemstone is never faceted, but generally cabochon cut or cut into beads. Faceting would destroy the beautiful banding of the stone and detract from is natural glass-like texture.

Yes, ultrasonic cleaners may cause more cleavages and micro-fissures to surface. Earnest is correct that the best way to clean is to use dish washing liquid or hand soap with warm water. Repeat that a few times over a period of a few weeks. For the stains that can't be removed. Keep the jade around the pillow and fondle it before and after bed. Repeat the cleaning process with soap and brush every couple weeks, in less than a few months, the toughest stains will be gone. Never use tooth paste as it is abrasive.

Hello Tim
The original polished finish would not have been lacquered. It would be the polished surface of the stone. Lacquer is a cheat to enhance the stone to make it look good. This is not like french polishing wood! The jade is good enough if not faked and done in a rush, to have its own true polish.
James

Dear Tim

Your jade is colour enhenced, which is normally found 90% in today market. It looks like molded glass actually. Natural color is very expensive and last longer than the fake one.

The 80 yrs old women around my place are wearing jadite bangles since they were young. They were given as wedding dowry. As time passed by, they compared to each other's bangles, some of them have bangles that the colour faded away or completedly gone, just simple white jadite bangles. Finally, they found out that they are wearing fake color jade, unlike the real one which last longer....whom to blame?, they bought those bangles long long time ago, and some of their husbands are long gone.
-----------------------------

Those kind of stains are very stubborn, I do not know what they are, but they annoy me a lot.

I use the short cut with household product "alkaline drainpipe opener solution". Do it quick and it really works! and Pls run away after you pour water in it, and do it in open space.It's corrosive to your body, but not to glass, ceramic and PVC.

(See pic attached)

**Pls notice that the fake jades with whitening will not have black stains, the alkaline acid they use will remove them all**

Have fun
Anita Mui

Anita,
How old is the "jade boy" in your pictures? It looks Ming? Is it your collection or just pictures from a website?
kk

My mother collected jade for 50 yrs and I hated cleaning each piece. As I got older I started collecting in the 80s. She cleaned each piece of jade in warm water with dish soap with soft toothbrush and Squibbs mineral oil. She was told by and old elderly chineses friend. And all hundred piece are still shining like new.

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