Jade Carved Asian Panda

Do you think this is real jade? Feels heavy for being 4" long.
Thanks

 

Looks like B.C. Jade , carved by chinese workers in Canada for the tourist market.

 

Oh....& it's a Bear....not a panda.

 

Not soapstone? I have a carved fish in this green and the man who made it said it was soapstone.

 

I looked at some of the BC bears online and to me this does not seem to be made there.
I guess there are a buch of stones that come in that color.
I will do a density test and see if it is jade.

 

This is 7" long and pretty heavy. The artist is Russell Stepney, NA name "Ook."

 

Yours also does not show signs of being antique. Mine was carved in 2004. That's not an indicator as Russell is a local artisan and his pieces are unique. I agree with komokwa that it's probably a tourist piece.

 

I don't know if it is my screen but how is this green the same?
I know Jade is supposed to be scratch free so I will test mine.

 

How does antique jade look like compared to recent one? What about being old but not antique?

 

http://sell.lulusoso.com/selling-le...-Precious-Stone-Bear-Carved-Animal-Craft.html
Not exactly like yours, but similar. About $80

Alibaba is a Chinese company

 

Soapstone is a generic term for a talcum based stone.
It's usually soft enough to scratch with your nail, & leave a whitish mark.
Jade is the hardest stone on the planet.

 

Yes, mine is soft. We'll see if OP can scratch his.

 

I'm looking at two blocks of BC nephrite jade on my desk.
Light green and dark green , with the same black inclusions.

I could photo them and show them but I guess it wouldn't prove anything , so you may just have an antique chinese jade panda.

But I don't think so.

 

I already did. It is hard to scratch. This does not make it Jade. Plus, there are quite of few types of jade.
Not sure what do you mean with that last link of the alibaba bear. There maybe hundreds similar ones out there. I can't just compare like that. Some could be real jade or not, some old, other recent etc.

 

I am not trying to say that mine is antique. Why it has to be hundreds years old but not fifty?
It could have been made anywhere, not only China or BC.
Photos could help but do you really think you can tell on a hundred percent the exact type of stone just by looking at pictures?
I will let you know the results of the density test.

 

Well it could be from Russia.....but I still think it's Nephrite Jade....if only from a picture.

And after all , we only deal here with pictures....so it's all I've got to go one.

 

I have a rather nice carved jade bear with a salmon in his mouth. Bought in BC in 2005. The jade is Canadian, the carving was done in China. I suspect this has the same origin.

 

The density comes to about 3.3/3.4.
So, it is a type of Jade, I guess. Not sure if Jadeite or Nephrite.
I know jade takes just a little bit to get cold after being warmed but this takes a bit longer.

 

This has all the characteristics of a Chinese knock-off of a traditional Native American or Canadian First Nations carving. The treatment of the eyes is nearly always a telling feature...the copies never seem to get that part "right." But I can't say what the stone is. I would doubt if they import it, however.

I would add, however, that similar, smaller bears like this are being made in Pakistan, and being sold as "Zuni fetishes." Just this weekend I saw a whole tray of them at a flea market on the West Coast, most with their tiny gummed stickers saying "made in Pakistan" still attached.

 

Thanks for the reply Taupou. What makes the bear a replica of traditional Native American carving? The shape, the face etc?
Any picture examples of similar Native bears? I guess they were not the only one carving images of these animals?