My Jade Bangle Bracelet Has a Crack

When I went to Beijing, China for the first time in 1999 with a qigong, Chinese medicine group, I wore a gold necklace with a heart that was a gift from husband.  He was nervous about me going to China without him, and I wanted to keep him in my "heart".   One of our group guides asked me if my necklace was gold and I proudly told her that it was.  She looked confused, and I thought maybe she was envious of my pretty gold necklace.  One day she took us to a government high-end jade store for shopping.  The jade was beautiful, very green and translucent. The prices were quite high, none of us in the group wanted to pay those high prices.  I asked her what made this jade so expensive because when we were shopping at the street markets, jade was so much cheaper.  (That was before I knew about "fake jade".)  She explained the difference between Chinese jade and Burmese jadeite.  And she mentioned that the beautiful green jadeite stone was set in 22-24k gold.  Then she smiled at me, and I understood that my 10k gold necklace was "fake gold" to her! 24k gold is the highest quality gold, but can break and scratch more easily, and 22k gold is more sturdy and slightly less expensive.  She told me China and Asia recognize only 22-24k gold as "real gold". And the expensive Burmese jadeite deserved the 22k gold.

The year 2005 was the first year my husband went to China with me during my annual jade shopping trip.  Having husband jade shopping with me meant I could buy more because I had more help carrying it after I bought it.  It also meant I could take more USA cash with me, and convert it to more Chinese RMB,  and there was a limit on how much "tourists" could convert each day. So we had to stay in Guangzhou until we got all our dollars converted. 

While in Guangzhou I went to their big and famous jade market.  I had to be careful there because although the jade sellers all claimed their jade was genuine and natural, a lot of it was questionable.  I took some of the pieces I bought to a gemologist to test them for me.  He had a small shop and sold unique and interesting jade.  I found a beautiful green color Burmese jadeite bangle bracelet and was surprised to see gold etching on it.  The gemologist told me it was grade A, and the gold was 22k.  When I put it on my wrist, it felt like the gold was covering a crack, and he agreed that it was indeed a crack.  He said the jade itself was very valuable due to the coloring, so he had gold etching added to it to disguise the crack and make it look good so someone would buy it. I was concerned about the crack causing the jade to break, and he told me that because of the quality of the jade it probably would be as strong as one with no crack, and the crack actually took some of the pressure off the bangle so it would be less likely to crack if it struck something hard.  We bargained for awhile and I got a good price, and purchased it because I loved it and it fit me perfectly. 

I've had it and worn it occasionally for 14 years and it is still beautiful and not broken.

In a former blog post I wrote about my wrists being sore from toting broken luggage off a cruise ship to our bus pickup location.  I posted a photo of the jade bangle described in this post that I was wearing instead of my beloved carved jadeite regular bangle because it was more slender, lighter and more comfortable than the heavier carved bangle.

My grade A Burmese jadeite bangle bracelet with gold etching on crack

The color of this jade bangle is a very cherished shade of green and has a few imperial green veins
that add to the beauty and value with the 22k gold.  The slender size feels so comfortable on my wrist

BB2225 Burmese jadeite and 22k gold bangle bracelet

This jade bangle BB2225 is a jade bangle I purchased in 2000 from a friend of a friend in Tianjin.  No cracks.  Just the addition of 22k gold to make it unique.

JBB2210 22k gold etching color treated lavender genuine Burmese jadeite bangle bracelet

This lavender Burmese jadeite bangle bracelet with gold etching is genuine jadeite, color treated to make it more beautiful.  The etching is all around, covers a what appears to be small crack, the gold adding durability and making it a unique and beautiful jade bangle bracelet.

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