Posted By: Bill
Posted Date: Jul 28, 2009 (02:39 AM)
Hi, Lux:
That is great, that is, to spend money in buying some jade books before you would buy more jades.
These are four good jade books for your consideration:
"Chinese Jade - from the Neolithic to the Qing" by Jessica Rawson
I bought the paper back from Paragon for about $30 when it came on sale.
"Chinese Jade throughout the Ages" by Stanley Charles Nott
You should find this book on eBay and other sites for about $15-20. Make sure it has its original dust jacket and box. Some dealers sell it as high as $60. A few of his other books are collector's items and are very expensive.
Two books written by Professor S. Howard Hansford:
1. Chinese Carved Jades
2. Chinese Jade Carving
Professor Hansford is probably one of the most respected jade scholar in the west. One time when I wrote about him in this forum, his grandson (paternal) in England wrote me in an attempt to find out more about him.
His jade books are collector's items and can be very expensive but if you are patient enough you can find a copy of each book for around $20-30 (without dust jacket). One book is harder to find than the other.
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Just found this Honan jade bowl on eBay:
120451780749
4 inches diameter for $ 5 with a stand is simply not bad.
Of course it is not jade.
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I found this link:
http://molly.kalafut.org/jade/fake.html
This is what it says about jade in general and about Honan Jade:
Fake Jades Jade Collecting Avoiding Fakes
Identifying Fake Jades
Description & eBay Examples
By Molly Kalafut
June 2009: Update - I've received a lot of wonderful feedback, including helpful constructive information, from viewers of this webpage, and I extend my appreciation to all of you. When I have time I hope to update this page with the information I've received, but it probably won't be anytime soon.
Also, just wanted to say, while I wish I could help reader email requests to identify their jade articles or potential buys, I don't have the expertise. I'm not an expert and it is difficult to judge from just photographs. This page is simply a hobby for me that I hope helps to steer others in the right direction. Please try to contact a commercial gem or jewelry expert. I hope you can understand, thank you.
Many merchants and antique dealers have a tendency to call any green-looking stone "jade", when it may really just be serpentine, glass or even plastic. Some confusion arises when the word "jade" is used misleadingly to describe something that is just "green". Sadly, a number of names for minerals are very misleading because they use the word "jade" but are not, in fact, either jadeite or nephrite. Listed here are a number of common fakes and fraud.
Here are a few ground rules and warnings about fake jades:
1. Just because something is green doesn't make it "jade".
2. Location names are almost a dead giveaway that something is not jadeite or nephrite.
Note About eBay: Be very careful when purchasing jade from sellers on eBay! As illustrated below in many examples, some dishonest or ignorant sellers are more than willing to use the word "jade" in many misleading ways. Try to make sure the seller specifies "jadeite" or "nephrite" and offers a guarantee. I even chose some of the good examples, like where it says "soapstone jade"...some confused or dishonest merchants might list their green soapstone as "jade" and not even say "soapstone". All examples were chosen from eBay on one day and are just a few chosen out of many examples. At any given time there are dozens to hundreds of fake jades for sale. Beware!"
""Honan Jade" is really soapstone, serpentine or steatite, not jade. It's even been described as bowenite."
""Dushan jade" is comprised of saussurite, not true jade.
"Dushan Jade" Example
In August 2006 I received email from someone demanding to know my source for this information, and called my page a "misleading bunch of bull". Setting the insults aside, the information on Dushan jade came fromR. V. Dietrich, Professor Emeritus from the College of Science and Technology, Central Michigan University. To quote:
Saussurite (also called Dushan jade, jade tenace, Nanyang jade, and Swiss jade) -This alteration product of some basaltic composition igneous rocks, or more particularly to their plagioclase feldspar component, consists largely of albite (sodium-rich plagioclase feldspar) and epidote and/or zoisite (both epidote group minerals) and commonly also includes lesser percentages of calcite and sericitic mica plus or minus one or more of the zeolite group minerals and/or prehnite. Some saussurite appears macroscopically homogeneous -- indeed it was once considered to be a mineral species. - [Distinguishing saussurite from jade by macroscopic means can be difficult -- e.g., both its typical hardness and specific gravity fall within the range of those of jade; thus, it is fortunate, and noteworthy, that saussurite is rarely found in pieces of desirable color that are large enough to be carved (etc.) so it has found little use as a jade substitute.].
Another website called "Chinese Jade Gifts" even states: "Nanyang jade: A kind of plagioclase rock with a hardness of 6-6.5 degree from Dushan, Nanyang, Henan province. So sometimes it is called Dushan jade." Sorry to say, but "plagioclase rock" is a feldspar, not jadeite or nephrite.
If that isn't considered convincing enough, check out this page
This page is called "Jade Sage from Mt. DuShan" and clearly states "Dushan Chime (Saussurite)"!
Followup: The person writing in to complain is in fact...a seller from eBay. After I politely responded with this information about saussurite, plagioclase and feldspar, she responded with, quote: "It seems redicious(sic) to me..I don"t(sic) want to talk about this anymore i'm sure to get my point...It takes all kind and your(sic) one of those other kinds I surpose(sic)..Your(sic) so full of it that it makes me sick". As I've said before, be very careful about purchasing jade on eBay!"
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I cannot guarantee everything posted in this link is 100% accurate because I did not check on each item posted in his link but I like the one says about "Dushan jade" or Nanyang jade because Dushan jade is one of the three authentic material found in the making of archaic jades in China and was also used in making many modern jade carvings. Its hardness can be as high as 7.0 and its S.G. ranges from 2.5 to 3, therefore if you use either the scratch test or even the S.G. test to test it, you have no choice but to call some of the Dushan jade carvings jade, but it is really not jade.
I believe after you have spent some time in studied both jade books and jade carvings in auctions, museums, you would be able to tell a jade carving is not made of jade immediately.
Just remember, there is no free lunch, most of the time you get what you paid for and sometimes you may pay too much for fake jades. Good luck.
Bill
