Are these beads jadeite, nephrite, serpentine or ???

I'm helping my sister with a HiBid auction and am looking for help in describing these tiny elephant and monkey beads (about 1/2" high).

They tested as jade using my cheap diamond tester, and I've researched the different types of jade and beads like these, but still am not sure how to describe them. I'm thinking the green elephant is nephrite, but after reading the post this morning about the serpentine jade pendant, I'm wondering if that's what it is (until now I didn't know anything about serpentine jade).

I'm also wondering how old they could be. The green elephant looks newer to me and more crudely carved. The other two have remnants of black paint on their eyes, and the monkey has a white spot on his back--maybe a ding?

My sister and I have never sold anything on HiBid before, so I'm having the auctioneer list these as a separate lot to see if they're worth the time spent researching and photographing them. (I may want to use him for some of my things in the future.) He's photographing everything else except the vintage jewelry.

 

Ive got that same green elephant somewhere around here.To be honest they are rather crude,probably tourist tat. I cant see these being worth much at all.

 

This Etsy seller lists the green elephant bead for US$7.87 and calls it aventurine:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/921746962/elephant-carved-real-aventurine-green?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=serpentine+elephant+bead&ref=sc_gallery-1-6&sca=1&plkey=624e411ae6be98b218614b0657adbc41d8c7ed55:921746962

The other elephant and the monkey look like soapstone to me, but there is a possibilty they are lower end serpentine.

 

I really appreciate everyone's comments since they prompted me to do a little more research on how the various stones compare on the hardness scale.

My beads showed a hardness of 6 with the diamond tester. If what I found from a brief internet search is true, jadeite has a hardness of 6.5-7, aventurine 6.5, nephrite 6-6.5, serpentine 3-5.5, and soapstone 2.5-3.5. If that's true, it seems my beads would be nephrite (unless my diamond test isn't accurate).

In any case, I'm thinking the most they may sell for is $10 if at all, which definitely isn't worth the time I've spent on them, but they're a test to see what kind of buyers will be looking at an auction in small town Wisconsin (the auctions will start at $1, the auctioneer's commission is 17%, and he ships nationwide).

If I weren't doing all the work, I'm sure the auctioneer would just put them in a flat with a bunch of other costume jewelry. But I'm giving him a flash drive with all the edited photos, titles, and descriptions for about 44 lots of vintage/antique jewelry, antique buttons, and a couple other small items, so his work will be minimal. He'll earn his commission from the multitude of other things in my sister's 50-year accumulation of antiques.

 

That is lower quality serpentine. Serpentine jade, the higher quality serpentine, can go up to 7.

Frankly, I am not seeing nephrite, nor the quality of carving even bead-size nephrite figurines have.

 

Thank you, AJ, I'll call them serpentine and leave off the word jade. That will make it even more interesting to see if they sell at all. Edit: I just re-read your comments and am not sure if I'm interpreting it correctly. Did you mean the beads are serpentine, or serpentine jade?

 

Serpentine, just the good stuff. "Serpentine jade" is a trade/use name for higher-quality serpentine. Jade it ain't.

 

Thanks evelyb30. Now I finally understand!