Featured Ancient Chinese Artifact?

I recently kicked off my picking season with one of the coolest finds ive ever come across. I bought a 30 year collection of chinese nephrite jade figurines, bi discs, and other misc pieces of jade! I will be posting lots of photos when i get a chance because i would to love show them off and hear from anyone with any knowledge of these works of art. Also, if anyone knows of anywhere i can take these to be authenticated or appraised i would appreciate it. Thanks

 

I have about 30 more pieces which ill be posting up when i can. Hope you all enjoy them as much as i do

 

Cant wait! Im going to start a few more discussion forums with other artifacts

 

May I die now with envy.

 

Are those nephrite or serpentine?

 

Im pretty sure they are nephrite. Its possible a few could be serpentine.

 

I don't think jade comes in blue though, so if the first one is really blue then I'm thinking maybe sodalite.

 

It appears to have some type of coating,whatever it is seems to be flaking off in a number of spots.

 

Like I said in your other thread:
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/antique-chinese-nephrite-jade-figurines-old-or-modern.36569/
Genuine archaic jades are rare, but thousands of copies have been made, and from what I can see on these photos these are all either copies or made in the style of.
There is such a huge demand for these 'archaic' jades. And when there is a demand, the Chinese will supply. You will also find that some of these jades are not jade at all, and some have been dyed to look old. Archaic jades are never dyed.

Antique nephrite has a soft, almost buttery feel. It is extremely tactile.
The carved lines are never whitish if the rest of the stone surface shows no white, as you can see on this Shang dynasty piece:

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder...1897&sid=a489a217-abda-4e5f-9c56-a8dd9f676fdc

Scott, if you don't have the opportunity to see antique jades 'in the flesh', it will help if you study the objects closely online. There are many museum sites, and the Christie's site has some nice examples as well.
Here is some info on archaic jade technology, which can help you look for the real deal:
http://mercury.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/nontech/jadetech.html

 

Is there way i can test to see if the pieces are dyed? Perhaps a black light or a microscope? I have an electronic microscope to take close up photos

 

I was taught that true nephrite jade, which many antique jades are, cannot be dyed, the dye would stay on the surface. Jadeite jade can, but the kind of jades you are interested in wouldn't be jadeite.
To test if your pieces are jade, a good start is to buy a gem tester, there are some relatively cheap ones. Another way is to look through a loupe for tiny structures that look like twisted wire.
As I said, many 'jades' are not actually jade, those are the ones that are likely to be dyed. I think @Hollyblue can explain the process and possible testing for dyed stone better than I can.

This looks like a very nice piece of jade, btw:


These could be serpentine, which can have a Mohs hardness of up to 6, which is something to keep in mind when testing for jade. Nephrite is 6-6.5 on the Mohs scale. Serpentine does not have the twisted wire structures.

 

I learn so much from you. Thank you.

 

once i get my computer situated, ill have some high def photos under magnification. Then we can all learn what these are made off. Im keeping my fingers crossed lol

 

Please uncross them to take the photos.

 

I was once offered a vast collection from the 1950's of Pre columbian items.
The gent wanted many many thousands of dollars.
I saw photo's of dozens of the items.......they blew me away.
BUT...
It was a friend of mine who put me on to this guy's collection.....& he didn't know Pre-Co.....from Pepsi Co. .... & y'know what...neither did I !!!

I could feel myself on the edge of the rabbit hole......
maybe they were all good repro's...
maybe they were looted from South America & Central America in the 50's.
There was no paperwork that looked authentic.

So , I passed...... but never forgot just how close I came to making a big honkin expensive mistake....one way ...or the other..!!

the one pic I kept...to remind me....

 

It is really easy to be mistaken when looking at items that one knows little about, or even to become firmly convinced that a fake is real. It is well to remember that a collection of items, or a single item, may have come from an innocent person who also believed the item was real; but that every kind of item has been faked; and that the vast majority of fakes are contemporary - made a year, or 10 years ago, not 100.
It is always good to keep an open mind, and to be willing to learn from those with more experience.

My first attempt at buying a Northwest Coast Native mask many years ago was nearly a horrible mistake....I was just about to put down several thousand dollars, when I happened to mention the mask to a friend....who said: "You know these are being hand-carved by the thousands today? This is an imported replica; the original is in the Denver Museum." I took a deep breath, and resolved to learn first, buy later. I realized that if I was unfamiliar with the businesses which produced fakes, and the shops that sold them, I needed to spend some time researching those areas before buying anything.
It can be a journey of discovery; and Scott, I wish you well on your journey; I'm sure you'll find it enjoyable.