How "Old" s My Jade?

A few weeks ago I purchased some jade pieces from and estate sale.  Some of it was easy to identify as Chinese jade.  I tested each piece with refraction testing to determine if it was Burmese jadeite. But it is not easy to determine the age of the jade because there wasn't anyone to discuss it with.

Most of the Chinese jade pieces were small carvings.  I listed them on Ying Yu Jade and most of them sold within a few days of posting.  There are still some carvings available.

Vintage jade horse carving

Vintage estate "what is it?" carving

The most interesting pieces are two Burmese jadeite bangle bracelets.  They don't look new at all.  But they don't have any cracks, scratches or damage to indicate they were worn often.  They appear to be carved from the same jadeite rough.  Here is one of the two that I listed. 

BB2918  Vintage Pre-Owned Burmese Jadeite Bangle Bracelet

A few years ago a woman sent me an email with a photo of a "blue" jade bangle bracelet that she wore to a USA China Town shop.  She was offered $10 for it, but she kept it and did online research, and that's how she found me.  Jade is not easy to photograph and capture how it really looks.  But something made me think it was quite valuable.  I suggested she take it to a gemologist and have it tested to see if it was Burmese jadeite and if it was natural color.  The gemologist she used was not very familiar with jade, so he asked a Chinese person who was very familiar with jade to help him determine the value.  They decided to contact Christie's auction, and they determined that it was worth around a million dollars!  She was was not to sell it for $10.

The two I purchased from the estate sale have a similar appearance.  They are not green, but not really blue either.  Perhaps lavender.  It took about 50 photos to get three that could be lightly edited to look like the "real thing".   This jade bangle and its "sister" look different every time I look at them. As I was handling it, it seemed to be so similar in color the my favorite personal carved jadeite bangle bracelet I wear most of the time.

My Qing Dynast carved Burmese jadeite bangle bracelet on top
BB2918 below it

It's not the same "blue" color as the almost $1 million jade bangle, so I don't have a $1 million price on it.  I love my carved jade bangle shown on top of it.  Mine is very old, probably from the Qing Dynasty as the woman I got it from told me its history as we were riding on a train in China.  She offered to trade the bangle for most of the personal items I was carrying on the train, like my hand bag and the "western" things in it, my cosmetics, and some of my clothes.  I wear it probably 90% of the time.  It's not "perfect" but I love the color, pattern and "feel" of it.  It's so calming and beautiful to wear.

There is something special about vintage, pre-owned estate sale jade.  If you are sensitive to qi energy, you can "feel" if it's right for you.  And you know there is very much history behind it.  

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