Is Jade "Pawnable"? Jade and Pawn Shops

If you have never had an online store or business, you might think that working an online business is "at your leisure".  If you are passionate about what you buy and sell, and want to be productive, then you work 24/7 most of the time.  My former Ying Yu Jade web site was one that I built myself with Dreamweaver program and it was work every day to keep it updated, make sure everything was working well.  Then the norm for websites was that they had to be mobile friendly for Google, and didn't know where to begin.  So I changed to a format that was fairly new, but in process of always improving, and I thought it was so good, I bought some of its stock.  One of the things I like the most is that is shows what people are searching for and that gives me information that is very helpful.

One of the searches that I have seen a few times "is jade pawnable".  Here's one of my experiences.

Las Vegas has quite a few trade shows and other activities I find interesting.  I like to stay downtown on Fremont street.  There's a hotel called California on the next block where I usually stay. For some reason, it attracts Chinese and Asian people, maybe because of the food.  That's where I see women wearing jade bangle bracelets, men wearing jade pendants. And the pawn shops that used to be around the casinos often had pawned jade. 
 The pawn shop workers didn't really know anything about jade, and made up a lot of stories. Since I was used to "bargaining" for all the jade I bought while shopping in China, I did the same thing, bargaining, in the pawn shops.  Some of the jade bangle bracelets and pendants on Ying Yu Jade "Vintage Estate  and Pre Owned Jade" Collection came from pawn shops.

One time I saw a small dark green jade carving in the window with a $300 price tag on it so I went in to take a look at it.  The sales person told me it was a Buddha woman so I listened to all his nonsense talk, and told him I didn't think I wanted it.  He was probably referring to "Guan Yin" or "Kwan Yin" female Buddha of compassion.  Then I made the "mistake" of touching it.  It fit perfectly in my hand and was carved so fingers go easily around it and the reverse side was slightly rounded and comfortable in the hand.  I knew then that there was something special about it.  I feigned disinterest, and eventually we agreed on a lower price.

My associate in China who works for the government and knows Chinese history well and is a jade expert told me it was probably a carving for the concubines who lived in Forbidden City or one of the dynasty communities before the Mao changes mid 1900's.  He told me that the wealthy men who had concubines provided jade to them.  That's when all jade bangle bracelet for women were carved in the classic round style, because these women didn't work so wouldn't have the breakage that often happens with round jade bangles.  Sometimes the jade carver would study the concubines and women and then carve a personal statue for them. This jade woman carving is very old Chinese jade, the kind of jade that was very common and traditional. And is probably a one of a kind piece.

(FYI: Did you know that there are many jade sellers especially on ebay who show photos of jade they claim is "old", it looks dirty and they state that it was found buried.  I have personally seen the "business of old jade" in China, people buying very cheap jade, like the "river jade" and getting it carved but not polished, then burying it in filthy dirt for a few months.  Since it's cheap jade, it is porous and it absorbs the gross mess it is buried in.) 

The last time I was there,  the pawn shops were moving out of the downtown area, so I don't know if there are still any there.  The newer pawn shops had a lot of items that weren't pawned, just merchandise to sell, and I see that here in central Florida, too. 

So the answer to "is jade pawnable" is yes, but you really have to "know" jade to purchase it, and know what the value is, or what you want to get paid for it before you shop, or pawn.

I'm going to Las Vegas this weekend for a special event, not closing the online stores and will be back Monday so if you order anything the shipping might not be the next day, but it will be shipped on Tuesday.  Of course I'm going pawn shop exploring, and will blog about any jade I find there.

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