Protecting and Taking Care of Your Jade at Home

Yesterday I went to a jewelry and fashion wholesale trade show.  My biggest purchase was very cute boxes I want to use over the holiday season for customers who order small items like jade pendants, some of the necklaces, and other small things.  There is so much to look at, when I arrive I go up and down each aisle just to see what's being sold and where I might want to make purchases.  This show has some sterling silver jewelry but most is the cheap costume jewelry, although it looks pretty.  But after walking up and down all the rows of vendors, it was kind of disgusting, and I can honestly say I didn't desire any of it.  I spend hours, and days, walking around jade markets, and never get tired of looking at jade.

I was surprised to see a Chinese man selling jade bangle bracelets at one booth.  As I approached, I could see right away that it probably was agate and not jade, and if it was jade, it was very acid washed and color treated.  He started telling me about how fine his jade was, and only $8 each.  I asked what kind, and he kept telling me "jade, real jade, all natural.  Only $8 today.  Sometimes sells for millions of dollars, some days only $8".  It looked similar to these on ebay:

"Fake" jade,  probably agate

I showed him the jade bangle and he jumped up and knocked some of the bangles on the concrete floor and they broke into pieces.

There is another seller I have met with and her workers custom make some of the jade necklaces that are on my web sites.  She also has a few jadeite bangle bracelets, but states they are color treated, sells them wholesale $100.  She places a carpet mat on the floor before she unpacks her items.  If buyers knock something over or drop something, it doesn't break.

And that's a good tip for taking care of your jade at home.

When we planned our new home that replaced the one damaged in the storm this year, all the floors except kitchen, laundry area and bathrooms are carpeted.  We do like hard wood and tile, but it's safer for handling all the jade here.  My office has rugs over the carpet.  Handling hundreds of jade bangles and moving them around, this is crucial.  The place where you take off/put on your jade bangle should be a soft surface.  I can't tell you how many women have sadly told me that they were so excited to get their new jade bangle, they took it out of the packing near/on their way from their mail box, and dropped it, cracking/breaking it.  Or trying to put on a small jade bangle so it stays close to the wrist, using lotion or soap, and it goes flying and landing on a hard surface, damaging it.  The only jade bangle bracelets that I personally own were broken trying to get them on and off, and not doing it over carpet, a rug, the bed or other soft surface.  And the jade that gets broken as it's getting ready to be listed is due to dropping on an uncarpteted floor on the way to the outdoor photo area, or on the concrete when I'm unpacking a jade shipment.  I often carry too many pieces from one place to another, and so grateful the drops were over the carpet.

Another tip for protecting your jade is to put it in the box or wrapper that came with it, or a soft jewelry box.  Make sure other jewelry doesn't hit it, like when you're rummaging around your jewelry box looking for something.

If you have worn jade for a long time, you may have learned protection methods the hard way, so if you give the gift of jade to someone who is new to jade, be sure to share the protection tips with them.  It's heartbreaking to hear stories from customers who gave a jade bangle bracelet to a friend or family member who was so excited to get it, she dropped it putting it on...and it broke.

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