Featured Hei Tiki; Green & Translucent, UV Reactive: Is It Jade, Or Old?

This was Mom's, but I have no idea where or when she acquired it. The color goes to a dark, ugly gray-green under UV (pic 4); the jump-ring is brazed, the carving appears to be machine work, a steel point won't mark it. It's ~2" long x ~1 1/4" wide, weight is ~11 grams. I'll wager it's fairly contemporary an' probably tourist stuff. Thanks for lookin'!

 

Made in New Zealand,possible jade.

 

Goofy little Maori dude. I wouldn't be surprised it it was jade either.

 

Maori yes
jade yes
& it may not be antique...... but I'd say vintage... 80's

he's got the design right.. although the carving is rushed,,

 

New Zealand pounamu, which is usually nephrite jade and in this case it is.
What you are seeing under UV light is reflection of the blue-violet UV light, not fluorescence. Nephrite is inert in UV light.

Given the lack of refinement I'd say your Hei Tiki was made before the Maori Renaissance of the 1970s-80s, so probably 1960s.
Hei means pendant, a Tiki is an ancestral spirit, that can protect you.

The red rings around the pupils used to be made with sealing wax, so it is a post European contact custom. I can't tell of these are sealing wax, but it looks like they could be.

Please don't ever attack jade Hei Tikis or any other innocent stone jewellery etc with a steel point. There are other ways of finding out what a stone is. Asking here, for instance.

 

Yikes!
In my defense: I chose a small indentation on the bottom of the back...using a fine hard point placed carefully at the edge of the shallow relief, I applied moderate pressure, an' moved the point perhaps half a millimeter...a fully controlled exercise that yielded no discernible disruption to the surface, an' which left no steel smudge behind.
I'm sorry to have alarmed you, AJ. Please forgive my earlier offhand remark about such testing.