Jade Drama

There's more drama around jade than any other gemstone.  People rarely question of their diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other gems are "color treated" or "real".  But when it comes to jade, it's different.  Perhaps the reason is because of the qi energy of the jade stone that makes it so personal to us.

When I was at the gem show last week, I was surprised at how much Burmese jadeite was available for sale.  Since the Lantos embargo, jadeite has become more rare because it's not legal for Americans to import jadeite, even if it's carved in China.  If the origin is Burma, than jadeite and rubies have had a stiff fine and penalties attached to it.  That Lantos Law is also all about drama if you want to research.

I asked the sellers how they were able to purchase so much jadeite to resell.  Most sellers turned their back to me, because they probably imported it illegally.  But one seller told me that since the US changed most of the sanctions against Burma (Myanmar) except jadeite and rubies, they allow Myanmar business people to bring their jadeite to US trade shows to sell. That makes the Lantos Law a joke.  I could go to China, or Burma, and buy jadeite, then arrange to have a Burmese person take it to the US to sell, but I couldn't pack it in suitcases like I used to do.  If you wanted to see drama, you could have seen it in my face when we were discussing that Burmese people can bring it to US, but not US citizens.

One of the vendors had a case full of jadeite bangle bracelets, something  I haven't seen at a gem show for years.  I noticed them because there was a noisy argument going on at the booth between several Chinese people.  The jadeite bangle bracelets were very obviously color treated and she was selling them starting at $120 each.  These are the same kind of jade bangles you might see in a Chinatown for $10-30, really poor color treatment.  The argument was about it not being "real" jade.  There were several people who wanted to buy the jade bangles, and of course I had to make my opinion heard, that it was "real" jadeite, it would test as jadeite by refraction, but they were being sold fraudulently as grade A.  Security eventually intervened, but I left.  Only to go to a vendor two rows over where the same argument was happening.  This time it was a "white American" male who was being bombarded by both Chinese and American buyers about the different kinds of jade he was selling, and the main topic was that his Chinese jade was not "real" jade. 

There were some wonderful gems at the show, but the only drama was about the jade. 

There was even a seller who had the jadeite bangle bracelets that are grade A with certificates that we sell, and are have become "the jade" to buy and sell now.  It's that heavier, thicker and sometimes darker jadeite stone like in our "China's Favorite" category.   It's "modern" China's favorite, but not the good quality of the older jadeite on Jade Heaven and Ying Yu Jade that we purchased prior to the Lantos embargo.  More about THAT in future blogs!

"Overcoming Adversity" Yin and Yang Green Jadeite Bangle Bracelet

I have many of these kind of jade bangle bracelets, some listed but most in inventory.  And a pile of them on my desk that I like so much, I'm hoarding them for myself.  Like the one in the photo.  I really want to keep this one for myself.  I'm offering a $50 discount on it for Blog readers today and tomorrow, May 6 and 7, with coupon code NEW50.  It's in the "What's New" category on Jade Heaven,  "Overcoming Adversity" is the title.  I love the deeper green veins on the lighter, peaceful green.  It's icy cold, silky smooth, and one of my favorites on the Jade Heaven web site.  If it doesn't sell, it will probably wind up on my wrist!