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BEFORE THE GREETING EVEN, THAT PINK STUFF IS NOT NEPHRITE JADE BUT THULITE! MANGANESE RICH ZOISITE AND DON'T LET THEM TELL YOU DIFFERENT.
Hello Nephrite lovers! I am in Wyoming and have been here for 26 years. I have studied Wyoming nephrite for 16+ years. I have mined it from my mine, in Sweetwater County. I have handled over 20 tons of Wyoming nephrite in the past 16 years, a lot of rough, and slices which I test polished a corner on.
The Wyoming market for "jade"...a Spanish word for "kidney" of all things, antiquated even... relates to nephrite, as we have no jadeite from Wyoming. Fraud artists sell diorite as Wyoming Jadeite. Our Nephrite was world famous for many decades but now, all that is left is either estate pieces, family heirloom specimens, or left over mine dump materials that were passed over 40, 30, 20, and 10 years ago. There is so much that is recycled back to ebay at $1, $2, $3 a pound...real Wyoming nephrite, and all real reasonably good quality jade would never be priced that low if it were quality material. With the advent of diamond abrasives and the abandonment of heat on a leather bull wheel with chrome oxide polishing paste, the mine dump grade material has made a come back. The $2 a pound price helps a lot. You gets what you pays for....has been said before.
The one best question before you buy any nephrite from Wyoming is to ask the seller one very important lapidary question "DOES IT UNDERCUT-DOES A MAGNET STICK TO IT?", if he can't answer, or stutters, or starts rambling about he doesn't know, evacuate the transaction immediately.
Jade dealers can look at a piece and judge with reasonable certainty if it will undercut when polishing. It comes with how much pressure and heat the piece formed in. It must be hot and pressurized to get the cell structure to fuse the lattice in the cells into a homogenous form. Again, ask about undercutting, it does no good to buy jade that won't polish well. It isn't worth ten cents a pound if it undercuts.
Manganese rich Zoisite is known in geologic circles as THULITE, and for the rock hound THULITE is a fine lapidary material. For the jade collector, it has been passed off as PINK JADE which it is neither nephrite, nor jadeite..so to me, it is still a THULITE. Not a pink jade. THIS DELIBERATE MISTAKE SHOWS FRAUD, OR THIS INADVERTENT MISTAKE SHOWS AN AMATURE SELLER THAT DOES NOT KNOW HIS PRODUCT. EITHER WAY, YOU ARE DEALING WITH A LESSOR QUALITY SELLER.
Mutton fat is a cream to diluted hue of honey color, not a white snowflake jade. Mutton fat, real mutton fat is over $75 a pound. Snowflake is silica rich, and lower grade going for $4 a pound..
Real apple should never go below $50 a pound, honey olive that is real should never go below $75 even in a poor market. Edwards Mine black nephrite was all out of the country by the late 1950's and ended up in Germany, yet there are always a few of the "Edwards jade" pieces up at auction, ALWAYS ASK THE SELLER WHY AND HOW EDWARDS MINE MATERIAL WAS AQUIRED...A LARGE FRAUD FACTOR AS WELL.
Another issue is the Max Long Gamewarden jade, actually not a nephrite but an iron rich TREMOLITE. It will polish but will orange peel with the heat of polishing so if diamond abrasives are used, SOMETIMES one can get a good polish if the iron specks don't undercut as they are softer than the tremolite they are found in.
It tears my heart out to see the modern generation of lapidaries and collectors being spoon fed mine dump materials with all sorts of jazzed up attributes for LOW GRADE, although affordable materials, much is not enough nephrite to deserve that title even. Sad to say. Mica and iron specks are not an asset of good quality nephrite. If a magnet sticks to your precious rock, it is an iron rich tremolite low grade lapidary material known as gamewarden green jade. I have 1/2 a ton, I should know.
Books I recommend: GEMSTONES AND OTHER UNIQUE MINERALS AND ROCKS OF WYOMING, Bulletin #71 Wyoming Geologic Survey publication. by Dan Hausel and Wayne Sutherland rock associates of mine. This book would be the premium hunters information book.
JADE by Roger Kenerne excellent top end book. ADVENTURE IN JADE by Kraft (YES, founder of Kraft Cheese)..history of Wyoming's jade fields. THE HANDBOOK OF JADE by Hemrich a historical publication. JADE by Fred Ward famous gemologist whom I have conversation with on our market and its demise from poor dealers. A word of advice, commercial top grade specimens are non existant for the most part as the rush has past. Estate pieces are the future of Wyoming jade. Shysters are common especially with "PINK JADE".
Be sure you know that $2 a pound nephrite from Wyoming is just that, $2 a pound nephrite, and it may have a very loosely tossed around name. I will get at least one negative review due to the seller being active. mjwy which does stand for Millennium Jade of Wyoming and a higher ethics concerning Wyoming nephrite. VOTE IF YOU LIKE. Closing in on a top 500 reviewer position. Only one in fifty one of the 1,849 visitors takes the time to vote. Sadly. mjwy
Hello Nephrite lovers! I am in Wyoming and have been here for 26 years. I have studied Wyoming nephrite for 16+ years. I have mined it from my mine, in Sweetwater County. I have handled over 20 tons of Wyoming nephrite in the past 16 years, a lot of rough, and slices which I test polished a corner on.
The Wyoming market for "jade"...a Spanish word for "kidney" of all things, antiquated even... relates to nephrite, as we have no jadeite from Wyoming. Fraud artists sell diorite as Wyoming Jadeite. Our Nephrite was world famous for many decades but now, all that is left is either estate pieces, family heirloom specimens, or left over mine dump materials that were passed over 40, 30, 20, and 10 years ago. There is so much that is recycled back to ebay at $1, $2, $3 a pound...real Wyoming nephrite, and all real reasonably good quality jade would never be priced that low if it were quality material. With the advent of diamond abrasives and the abandonment of heat on a leather bull wheel with chrome oxide polishing paste, the mine dump grade material has made a come back. The $2 a pound price helps a lot. You gets what you pays for....has been said before.
The one best question before you buy any nephrite from Wyoming is to ask the seller one very important lapidary question "DOES IT UNDERCUT-DOES A MAGNET STICK TO IT?", if he can't answer, or stutters, or starts rambling about he doesn't know, evacuate the transaction immediately.
Jade dealers can look at a piece and judge with reasonable certainty if it will undercut when polishing. It comes with how much pressure and heat the piece formed in. It must be hot and pressurized to get the cell structure to fuse the lattice in the cells into a homogenous form. Again, ask about undercutting, it does no good to buy jade that won't polish well. It isn't worth ten cents a pound if it undercuts.
Manganese rich Zoisite is known in geologic circles as THULITE, and for the rock hound THULITE is a fine lapidary material. For the jade collector, it has been passed off as PINK JADE which it is neither nephrite, nor jadeite..so to me, it is still a THULITE. Not a pink jade. THIS DELIBERATE MISTAKE SHOWS FRAUD, OR THIS INADVERTENT MISTAKE SHOWS AN AMATURE SELLER THAT DOES NOT KNOW HIS PRODUCT. EITHER WAY, YOU ARE DEALING WITH A LESSOR QUALITY SELLER.
Mutton fat is a cream to diluted hue of honey color, not a white snowflake jade. Mutton fat, real mutton fat is over $75 a pound. Snowflake is silica rich, and lower grade going for $4 a pound..
Real apple should never go below $50 a pound, honey olive that is real should never go below $75 even in a poor market. Edwards Mine black nephrite was all out of the country by the late 1950's and ended up in Germany, yet there are always a few of the "Edwards jade" pieces up at auction, ALWAYS ASK THE SELLER WHY AND HOW EDWARDS MINE MATERIAL WAS AQUIRED...A LARGE FRAUD FACTOR AS WELL.
Another issue is the Max Long Gamewarden jade, actually not a nephrite but an iron rich TREMOLITE. It will polish but will orange peel with the heat of polishing so if diamond abrasives are used, SOMETIMES one can get a good polish if the iron specks don't undercut as they are softer than the tremolite they are found in.
It tears my heart out to see the modern generation of lapidaries and collectors being spoon fed mine dump materials with all sorts of jazzed up attributes for LOW GRADE, although affordable materials, much is not enough nephrite to deserve that title even. Sad to say. Mica and iron specks are not an asset of good quality nephrite. If a magnet sticks to your precious rock, it is an iron rich tremolite low grade lapidary material known as gamewarden green jade. I have 1/2 a ton, I should know.
Books I recommend: GEMSTONES AND OTHER UNIQUE MINERALS AND ROCKS OF WYOMING, Bulletin #71 Wyoming Geologic Survey publication. by Dan Hausel and Wayne Sutherland rock associates of mine. This book would be the premium hunters information book.
JADE by Roger Kenerne excellent top end book. ADVENTURE IN JADE by Kraft (YES, founder of Kraft Cheese)..history of Wyoming's jade fields. THE HANDBOOK OF JADE by Hemrich a historical publication. JADE by Fred Ward famous gemologist whom I have conversation with on our market and its demise from poor dealers. A word of advice, commercial top grade specimens are non existant for the most part as the rush has past. Estate pieces are the future of Wyoming jade. Shysters are common especially with "PINK JADE".
Be sure you know that $2 a pound nephrite from Wyoming is just that, $2 a pound nephrite, and it may have a very loosely tossed around name. I will get at least one negative review due to the seller being active. mjwy which does stand for Millennium Jade of Wyoming and a higher ethics concerning Wyoming nephrite. VOTE IF YOU LIKE. Closing in on a top 500 reviewer position. Only one in fifty one of the 1,849 visitors takes the time to vote. Sadly. mjwy
Guide created: 02/26/07 (updated 10/05/08)
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