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Can somebody tell me from what period this this jade pig is? The pig is 15 cm x 11,5 cm x 8,5 cm, weight 1992 g. I believe it is from End of 19th. century. It looks kike soap stone but its very hard and I am sure it is jade

First, take a strong needle and with enough pressure, make a 2-3 mm scratch, then tell us the color of this tiny scratch That will then give you the full answer
Ernest

After scratching it is gray-green

In this case, it is softer than Jade, and the shape also indicates that it is of recent manufacture. The brown colour looks like it was artificially added
Ernest

Thanks for your reply. My question was not if it is jade or not. I now it is jade and not steatite or limestone or other stone.

So, if you know, tell us if it is Nephrite or Jadeite.
Ernest

I probably should have kept my mouth shut because if one has nothing to say about something it is best to keep quiet. But I have been following this "jade" pig post and was amazed that Ernest would even respond to it and you appeared to be so sure with your jade knowledge by telling him that "I (k)now it is jade". May I ask where you got it since you resided in Poland, did you get it from eBay?

IMHO, this jade pig is so grotesque it was not even necessary to decide what it was made of. No true jade collector/lover will display it anywhere. It was so poorly carved, with artificial stains, artificial cracks, and all these unsightly small brown lines all over it. The chance for it to be a 19th century piece which will be a Qing dynasty piece is zero to none. You would never be able to find a genuine piece of Qing dynasty jade piece look this ugly, in this type of material. If the size you provided for this pig was indeed accurate, then based on my calculation (weight/volume), its specific gravity cannot exceed 2.60, therefore no way for it to be either made of nephrite (S.G. > 2.90) or jadeite (around 3.3-3.4), unless your definition of jade is not nephrite or jadeite but instead using the Chinese definition of jade "any stone that is beautiful". But unfortunately the material of this pig was simply so ugly that no one would call it beautiful.

Please forgive me for appearing to be too HARSH on your "jade" pig especially if you are indeed a true jade lover. Every one of us who loves jade must go through a learning period, from a novice who learned from hard lessons obtained from paying too much for some bad jade pieces to a better jade collector who learned from studying authentic jade piece and studied jade books that were written by jade experts, it can be a life long journey. I hope you would not get discouraged but would be humble to learn, not because in the hope that you would be able to discover a "valuable" jade piece by paying peanuts for it, then turning around in making a big profit but because you truly love jade and would want to learn more about it. Of course, since I am not a jade expert, I can be completely wrong, and your "jade" piece can indeed be a genuine Qing dynasty jade piece. In that case, I advise you to send pictures of it to some reputable auction houses for them to take a look. Cheer. Super

Thanks for your opinion. The pig is from real jade and it was established form licensed expert for gems. The question was only when it was made.
I have asked in this forum after jade head of Guanyin and the answer I got it is not jade, bat it was 100 % jade and the piece is now in museum as ddeposit

As deposit?

which museum is now the proud owner of this treasure?
Sincerely
Ernest Wilhelm

It really piqued my interest regarding this so called jade Guanyin head that was currently being "deposited" in a museum so I found the link:
http://www.asianart.com/phpforum/index.php?method=detailAll&Id=89225

IMHO, the chance for that "jade" head to be made of jade, either nephrite or jadeite is zero to none, and for it to be in a "museum" reminds me of my friend who believes he has a Neolithic jade collection bought from eBay for 20k US dollars but was worth half a million dollars and he loaned some of his jade pieces to the "museums" of the local university and the local city, telling them these were genuine Neolithic jade pieces. But after a while, they returned them to him, now sitting inside the cabinets in his house. In our local zoo, there was a pretty huge white jade buddha that was donated with a sign that says "made of white nephrite jade" but it could be scratched. The piece of white buddha and this white guanyan head were more than likely made of marble or some other soft material.

I do not understand the motive of this Chris guy in posting his so called "jade" pieces here, yet he did not appear to have any knowledge of how to confirm whether any of his pieces were made of jade, but he insisted he knew they were jades just like my friend knows his jade collection was Neolithic. That also reminds me a while ago an OB doctor who wrote several books about jade and other collectibles, using his fake jade collections as examples in showing other how authentic jades should look like. He tried to sell his fake jades in this forum. Sadly, even in some famous museums, some time there were fake items being displayed including fake Hongshan jades. May be this Chris guy can indeed show us which famous museum will "deposit" his white jade Guanyan? Now of course even jade experts will disagree with us but they always have respect for each other.

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