Question for the jade experts.

[jakesrocks]

I've had this piece of nephrite for many years. I did a quick polish on one corner so I could see the true color. It's a very dark black on the polished edge.

Now for the question. On a very thin edge the nephrite is opaque and shows a very dark green. Would this still be considered black nephrite ? Or should it be called very dark green, (almost black on thin edge) ?

I plan on taking a couple slices off to make knife scales for a special knife.

I really would appreciate some jade expert input on this.

[PinkDiamond]

Actually, now that I see it, after removing the brown exterior rock, if you cut it into slices, if there's any translucency to it at all you ought to be able to determine whether it's licorice black or deep greenish black by viewing it back-lit. So I would shave off a real thin slice and see if the true color becomes evident. Couldn't hurt to try.

*EDIT: We're talking about you in the chat room Chris - are your ears burning?

[m76steve]

Ive read many articles on the black jade, what the writer did say was basically all jade is pretty much green, the overly saturated material is so full of pigment that the color appears black. This was written by at least one person who was familiar with jade. As I have said & read, mother nature loves to change the mix of all stones, I recently found this dealing with paraiba tourmaline from Brazil, within Paraiba, there are or were at least 3 locations that put out different mixes of the same material, all considered Paraiba tourmaline. This is why im finding that collecting gemstones & labeling them as such, by a lab or appraiser should be considered to be as close to the origin as one can get within reason. Even the labs can come pretty close to correct ID of 'what is' but their information is based on data they have acquired over time that can help to tell origin, color, chemical makeup, etc. Just for grins, JTV & Gem Shopping are known for introducing new material quite often, then offering the stuff to the public as cut stones, some very pretty as Elliot, Diaspore, Masassi garnet color change, & so on-this is ongoing, everchanging-sorry for longish spew-stevie...

[jakesrocks]

Thanks Pink & Steve.

Steve, your "spew" was very informative. I guess for now I'll continue to call this black nephrite. Well, at least until someone else comes along with another explanation for its color and name.

[kjsspot]

I'd call it black

[SwordfishMining]

Usually what it looks like is what matters. I seem to remember the exception was in opals where black was harshly judged by not face up shades as in the N chart (Like not using a loupe to judge cut/clarity) but by looking at any corner to see if it looked brown however dark so it could be labeled not black. The mining districts can have a rather possessive definition if that is what always sold theirs best. What do the "black" jade mines say about it? I don't want to rock the boat.