Featured Is this jade or something else

these are part of my newly acquired collection. I believe they are jade and maybe another stone as well.

 

looks like jade from here...............

 

From the style of them, they are certaintly either jade or imitation jade. Hopefully so,done with a knowledge in jade will come along

 

The person whom I acquired them from has been to China 4 different times stemming back 60 years ago

 

1st one's a cicada..

 

The second one isn't jade; I forget what it is, but not jade. The third one could be easily, and I'm not sure of the first.

 

I think that second one is likely to be serpentine.

 

Nice collection, I paticularly like the last one.
Could we see some closeups, maybe with light shining through?

Were you thinking of maw-sit-sit? A very nice Burmese stone containing some jadeite and often confused with real jade. I think it could be maw-sit-sit, possibly treated.
The cicada on the first necklace was added later. It is best to take it off very carefully, in the long run that metal bail could damage the strung beads. The necklace is very nice on its own, as it was meant to be.
The cicada looks like Hetian/Khotan jade. It will look beautiful on a gold(plated) necklace.
The maker of the last one has retained some of the natural shape of the jade pebble it was made from, probably also Hetian/Khotan. I love those pebble pieces.

A word of warning, I have been seeing more 'antique' maw-sit-sit in the last few years. There is no such thing, maw-sit-sit was discovered in 1963.

 

Last one looks like shaoshan stone.

 

What is the best way to identify jade then? Transparency is one aspect then I’m guessing?

 

Take it to someone who deals in it daily, some jewelers may be qualified. I’ve been looking at “jade or not” posts with photos online for years and almost never see anyone answer “yes” or “no.” Always “maybe.” Until a expert holds it, looks into it with a loupe, all you’ll have is a “maybe.” IMHO.

If you can get CGTN on digital TV, there’s an interesting 10-part documentary on jade. On same channel recently there was a multi-part documentary “The Silk Road.” The reporter was covering a part of the road in Kyrzakstan. About a dozen local men hiked ten miles along mountain trails to a jade mine that had been mined for hundreds of years. They took all the food and explosives they could carry. After a couple of weeks of blasting and digging each man packed 50kg of white jade on his back, and once in town sold the jade for fairly low prices to a Chinese company with a tent-office in town. That’s if I understood it all, I wasn’t paying full attention.

 

Jade is tricky. Most stones that are sold as jade are something else, like chrysoprase or serpentine.
There are two precious stones that qualify as jade, jadeite and nephrite. Sometimes a stone is clearly one or the other, sometimes it is difficult to tell which one it is. Both come in many colours, and both can be shiny. Jadeite usually looks and feels more glassy, nephrite usually looks more tactile and greasy.
When it comes to Chinese jade, collectors prefer nephrite. Jadeite was introduced to China in the 17th century through trade with Burma, the main jadeite country.

In stones there is a difference between transparency and translucency. Transparent is when you can see right through it, very few stones have that, translucency is when you can see light through it, many precious stones have that.
Jade can be transparent, but it is not a decisive factor. The reason why I asked for closeups with light shining through, is because I hope to see the structure of the stones. When you look at jade, preferably through a loupe, it has a messy structure with little crinkly 'fibres', often intertwined.
Other tests are hardness, 6-7 on the Mohs scale, and density. If you are used to handling jade, you can include temperature changes.

 

Sounds complicated...

Definately a field of its own. I’ll note those shows down for sure spring they sound great.

 

Don't get me started! Oops, you already did.

 

I may have to take it to a local shop located in our little China district. I have multiple earrings and necklaces too

 

Do you know anyone with a gem tester?

 

No but you can buy them for under $100 I believe

 

I always just called it Random Dyed Rock. Never did know that name. The cicada and that necklace really do need a good divorce lawyer.

 

How would a gem tester work? Is it universal for any gem?

 

It tests the hardness of whatever you're testing. I have one of the cheap diamond testers and it doesn't work too well. It'll tell you how hard the stone is, which in turn indicates what it can be. Diamond testers are only supposed to be used to figure out if a stone is a diamond or some kind of simulant.