"Jade" was originally a bird's name, which was first seen in Evocation of Soul in the Warring States Period, namely "Flying Zhang" and "Jade Beads with Rhinoceros-like Teeth" in Huainanzi Human Training. Fei refers to red, Cui refers to green. "Jade", as the name of modern jadeite, jujube and jadeite, probably began in the early Qing Dynasty, because according to archaeological achievements, jadeite products before the Qing Dynasty were never found, and it was not until after the Qing Dynasty that a large number of jadeite products became popular.

Modern earth science research shows that jadeite is essentially a mixture of jadeite minerals, accompanied by amphibole, albite, diopside, magnetite and chlorite. These mineral crystals are extremely fine and intertwined, just like felt made of wool, which is called felt structure in mineralogy. The jadeite with this structure is very tough, and the hardness of jadeite is 7, which is harder than steel. Due to the hard and solid characteristics of jadeite, jewelry made of jadeite is very durable and not easy to be damaged.

Jadeite is the main component, with chemical composition NaAl(SiO3)2 and monoclinic system. As a polycrystalline combination, jadeite often occurs in the form of boulders and pebbles, with a specific gravity of 330-336 and a refractive index of 166. From oily to glassy, the colors vary greatly, including white, green, red, purple, orange, yellow, brown and black. But the most precious is green (emerald), followed by purple (violet) and red (scarlet).

5.2.2 Evaluation of Emerald

1. Quality evaluation basis of jadeite

There are many factors affecting the quality of jadeite, including color, texture (structure), transparency (water head), cracks, impurities, processing technology, etc., which are the main basis for economic evaluation of jadeite. Let's briefly introduce them respectively.

(1) color: the color of jadeite is ever-changing, with different hues (color photos 35 and 36), but white is the most, and green is the most expensive. As the saying goes, "There are 10,000 Jin of jadeite at home, which is expensive in the green side". According to traditional customs, the color requirements of jadeite can be summarized as "positive, positive, strong and harmonious". Positive: that is, the color is bright green, pure, and there can be no blue feeling in green. Yang: It just requires bright colors and bright colors. Dense: refers to the saturation of color, the stronger the emerald, the better. Harmony: refers to the uniformity of the same color of the whole jade, and high-quality jade requires rich and uniform color.

Generally speaking, according to the standards of positive, positive, strong and harmonious, high-grade turquoise can be divided into four grades, and their similarity is that there is no blue, only yellow. They are:

Emerald (1) is dark positive green without any yellow;

(2) green, medium-depth positive green, without any yellow;

(3) Apple green, bright green like green apple, slightly yellow;

(4) Mabel Miao, with obvious yellow light green, also known as boxwood green, has a lively feeling or shows vitality.

In addition to the advanced green mentioned above, there are other greens, such as dark green, oil green, blue green, water green, melon skin green and so on. , all belong to poor green. The price of this green emerald is much lower than that of high-grade green.

Besides green, red and purple jadeites are also very popular. Red is the best and purple is the most expensive, but this kind of color is very few, mostly shallow.

(2) Texture: The texture of jadeite is also called "Di Zi", "Zhangdi" or "Bottom", and minerals are called structure. It is mainly related to the granularity, shape and arrangement of jadeite minerals. As we know, jadeite is the main component of jadeite, and jadeite is cleavage developed. When the particles are large, when observed with naked eyes or a magnifying glass, you will see flaky flashes of different sizes when the light reflects from the cleavage plane, and vaguely show many tiny mineral particles in jadeite, commonly known as "emerald", also known as "flying wing" and "ofloxacin" in the jewelry industry. Because other green jadeites do not have emeralds, emeralds have become an important symbol to identify jadeites. But really good jadeite requires that the finer the particles that make up the minerals, the better. The constituent minerals are too small to see emeralds. The smaller the mineral particles, the more transparent the jadeite, and the better the foundation. In order to describe the texture of jade, dozens of names can be used, such as glass land, water land, egg white land, porridge land, taro land, fine white land, dry land, white land, fragrant ash land, excrement land and so on. And it varies from region to region and customs. The best quality is the glass floor, which is composed of very fine minerals, and the jade is as bright as glass. Followed by water, which means jade is as transparent as water; Thirdly, egg white means like raw egg white. Although it is basically transparent and slightly turbid, it is a rare product in the market. Porridge refers to its coarse particles, which can also be seen by the naked eye, and its transparency is average. This texture is very common in the jade market, especially in the pendant and jade crafts market.

(3) Water head: transparency. It depends on the content of other minerals in jadeite, the granularity, shape and arrangement of various minerals. The better the transparency, the more sufficient the water head. The size of jadeite can generally be estimated by the naked eye, and it is called "a little water" in the jewelry industry. The first water diversion refers to the translucent jadeite with a thickness of 3mm, and the second water diversion refers to the translucent jadeite with a thickness of 6 mm.. Dishui jadeite can be considered as the best quality in the world.

(4) Clarity: Like other precious stones, clarity is a major factor in jade evaluation. Jade has two main defects: white and black. The white ones are mainly granular and blocky, which are generally called "stone talk" and "blisters". They are mainly albite minerals or aggregates, and jadeite with obvious stone flowers is of low quality.

Black defects are mainly some minerals or aggregates, mainly amphibole and magnetite. Black defects also have a great influence on the value of jadeite.

(5) Cracks: commonly known as "streaks", streaks have a great influence on the quality of jadeite. There are two kinds of cracks, one is cracks caused by external impact; The other is intergranular crack, the former has a greater influence on the quality, but the jadeite with intergranular crack is also poor in quality.

(6) Process quality: High-quality jadeite can be made into valuable jewelry, and its specific quality depends on the thickness, proportion, roundness and polishing degree in addition to the above factors. For ordinary jade carvings, it is more important to consider the technological level and high-quality jade crafts. The craft should be based on materials, with exquisite patterns, smooth lines and clever colors (color photos 37 and 38).

It is worth pointing out that the evaluation of jadeite is a very complicated problem: the color, moisture and texture of the above elements are often a comprehensive element, commonly known as species. There are many schemes for the division of species, and the common ones are:

(1) Laokeng species: This is the best species, and its color meets the requirements of sunshine, positivity, rich and harmonious, rich, even and bright; Fine texture; Good water head (color photos 39 and 40). If it is a glass ground, the color is strong, sunny, positive and harmonious, the color and texture of jadeite will be better, bright and dazzling, and the second variety is called Laokeng glass seed. This is the best jade, very rare. It can be said that it can be met but not sought, and the price is very expensive. Raw materials generally need 6,543.8+0,000-3,000,000 yuan/company.

(2) There is one kind of colorless: it refers to delicate texture, full head, but less color, lighter color or colorless. If this kind of jadeite is big, it will usually be made into bracelets. The bracelet is clear and transparent, and the water is clear. Wearing it on your hands gives you a pure and pure feeling. If someone likes it, it is deeply loved by the majority of women and the price is higher.

(3) Hibiscus species: Just like Hibiscus, its fragrance is light and long. Generally speaking, the color of hibiscus is light green. To the naked eye, its color is pure but not evil, without Huang Tiao, translucent or slightly transparent, and the jade is delicate. Under the magnifying glass of 10 times, I feel particles, but I can't find the boundary, and the quality is equivalent to the egg white floor. Generally speaking, it is somewhat similar to Xiuyu (color photo 4 1).

Hibiscus species have a large yield and belong to middle and high grade. Although the grade is not very high, the hibiscus species has dark green veins and is called "green-rooted hibiscus species". This is a very expensive high-end product. In the 1980s, at an auction in Hong Kong, a bracelet made of this jade sold for 2 million Hong Kong dollars.

(4) Gan Qing species: This kind of jade is coarse in texture, short in columnar mineral particles, fully crystalline and semi-circular in granular structure under microscope, pure green in color, but poor in transparency, and easy to see in the market, so it is a mid-range product.

(5) Bean species: Jade "has nine beans in ten", which fully shows its commonness. Its ten-component mineral particles are coarse, easily visible to the naked eye, and the water head is poor. The green color is called "bean green" and the green color is called "bean green". This kind of product has large output and poor quality, and is a low-grade product.

(6) Golden seed: This kind of color is good, green is fresh, green is arranged in parallel, jade is soft, there are only a few fibrous minerals visible to the naked eye, and the water head is sufficient. According to the growth direction of green silk road stripes, it is further divided into: plain silk, random clump, silk slice and ink silk. This kind of jadeite belongs to middle and high-grade products except Mosi Cui, and its price is also higher.

(7) Bai Diqing: Visually, the bottom is as white as snow, and the green is bright and durable. Green is usually irregular, lumpy or lumpy. Under the magnifying glass of 10 times, its texture is fine, often in fibrous structure, and most of them have different water heads. This kind is mainly suitable for grinding bracelets, carving and listing, and belongs to middle and low-grade products.

(8) Flower-green species: it is a kind of jadeite widely distributed in Myanmar, which shows that the green distribution is veined, dense or sparse, and the color can be dark or light. The background color can be light green or colorless, and the texture can be coarse or fine. According to the texture, it can be further subdivided, such as bean flower cyanine, horse tooth cyanine and oil-bottomed cyanine. This kind of jadeite is very common in the market, and it is mostly used as a small pendant, belonging to middle and low-grade products.

(9) Oil green species: Visually, green is dark and impure, mixed with gray or blue tones, giving people a very dull feeling. The water head of oil-green species is generally good, and the jade is delicate and glassy, but the surface light looks oily, and the fibrous crystal structure can be seen under a magnifying glass. The color can be from shallow to deep, and if the color is dark, it is called "melon skin is oily green"; If the color is lighter, it is called "fresh oil green". Youqing is easy to see in the market, and it is also a low-end product. Generally, the ring face is about tens to hundreds of yuan each.

(10) Horse tooth species: rough texture, white granular mineral inclusions in jade, poor transparency, as the saying goes; "Insufficient moisture or head". It looks a bit like porcelain to the naked eye. Under the magnifying glass of 10 times, you can clearly see a thin white stripe in the green. Although the horse tooth species is dark green, it is not uniform enough and its distribution is irregular. Horse tooth species rarely do ring face, but do more listing, ring, etc., which is more common in the market and the price is lower.

(1 1) Fee: It is a red and yellow variety in jadeite (color photos 42 and 43). This color was once thought to be caused by jade being soaked in human blood after being buried with him. This is a complete misunderstanding. In fact, this is only the secondary color of jadeite, that is, the color of jadeite original stone impregnated with iron minerals under weathering. Bright red costs little, but it is hard to find and the price is high. For example, Sotheby's auction took an excellent red fee sculpture with a price as high as HK$ 3.8 million. Topaz is relatively common, with a large output, and is not very popular with people. The price is extremely low, and you can buy it from a few yuan to dozens of yuan.

(12) Spring: refers to the purple variety in jadeite. Purple is generally lighter, like the color of violet flowers, also called violet (color photos 44 and 45). According to the different shades of purple, it can be further divided into pink purple and pink purple; Eggplant purple jujube purple with eggplant-like crimson; Blue purple jujube purple with blue. This kind of jadeite is generally carved at an average price. If it is dark purple, fine texture and good water head, it is a high-grade product that is very difficult to find, and the finished product is worth tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

(13) Blue flower species: the color is blue, green and blue, which is actually the appearance of tremolite and actinolite: this color is evil, with poor water head and ordinary texture, with a lot of dirty black inside, which belongs to low-grade jade material.

(14) Dirty species: inferior species in jadeite, including taro land, excrement land and fragrant ash land. Visually opaque, rough texture and large mineral particles. Under the magnifying glass of 10 times, there are many impurities in it, such as stone flower and stone brain, and the color is extremely abnormal, mixed with yellow, brown and gray. It is common in the market and belongs to very low grade.

What is jadeite?

From a petrological point of view, jadeite is a kind of rock? It is a mineral aggregate consisting of jadeite as the main mineral component and pyroxene and amphibole minerals, and it is jadeite or pyroxene. Emerald is a commercial name, which is historic and exclusive. From the perspective of petrology, jadeite should be defined as jadeite or gypsum mine with technical and commercial value and reaching the gem level.

What is Emerald A?

A: In the past, there was no concept of goods A, goods B and goods C in the market, because all the jadeites sold at that time were natural jadeites. Until the 1980s, some unscrupulous businessmen used non-physical methods to deal with low-grade jadeite in order to make huge profits, which led to the difference between A, B and C products. The jadeite we sold was all jadeite A products, which were processed into finished products by ourselves to ensure the naturalness of the products.

Description of Class A, B and C commodities: Class A commodities refer to jadeite products made of natural jadeite stone only by mechanical processing means (physical methods) such as cutting, grinding, carving and polishing. B goods refer to products made by chemical treatment (such as soaking in acid solution) of raw materials with dark gray bottom and poor water quality during processing. Due to the destruction of the original physical structure, this jadeite gradually lost its luster and was covered with cracks in two or three years. There are sellers in the market who call it "optimized" or B-grade jadeite.

C goods are middle and low-grade raw materials after physical and chemical treatment. The difference is that colorless, light green or loose green jadeite is discolored by artificially adding foreign dyes during processing, while jadeite with artificially added colors will discolor at higher temperature.

Every piece of jade has its own unique side. As a jade lover, after buying the jade you like, you should learn to appreciate it. Generally speaking, appreciation should be based on the following aspects:

Observability: a good jade must first have a beautiful appearance, and the rounded appearance matches the mystery of jade. I believe that it will be extremely lucky to be able to swing on your chest.

Suitability: As a pendant of jadeite, the appreciation of jadeite is inseparable from the dependence on its owner. The size, color and wearing method of jadeite are very important for appreciation.

Naturalness: I believe most buyers know that only natural jadeite A has the significance of appreciation and appraisal. If it is B or other substitutes, Yu Pei itself will lose its value.

Second, the quality evaluation

The value of jadeite mainly depends on color, transparency, texture, land, variety, flaws, cracks, technology and so on. This is explained as follows:

First, color

The common colors of jadeite are green, white, red and purple, among which green is the best variety. If a piece of jade has green, red and purple at the same time, it is also a very rare jade. Because green has the most important commercial value in color, this paper mainly introduces green:

Generally speaking, the green color of commercial jadeite emphasizes "wealth, integrity, masculinity and harmony". The so-called "thick" means that the green is full and thick; "Positive" means green and pure, with no noise; "Yang" means that green is bright and bright; "Harmony" means that the green is even and soft (as shown in figure 1).

According to the hue, it can be divided into the following categories:

1, Emerald, Emerald: green, bright, pure, saturated, without any color cast, evenly distributed and delicate in texture, among which Emerald is higher in saturation than Emerald and is the best among jadeites.

2, Apple Green, Mabel Miao: The color is a little yellow in dark green, almost invisible, and the color saturation is slightly lower than the top, which is also a rare product in jade.

3, boxwood green: green and bright, slightly yellow, like boxwood leaves in early spring.

4, onion heart green: green like a delicate onion heart, slightly yellow.

5. Parrot Green: Green is as bright as the parrot's green feathers, slightly transparent or opaque.

6, bean green, bean green: green, such as bean color, is a common variety, jade is slightly thicker and slightly transparent, and those with cyan are "bean green".

7, blue water green: transparent to translucent, slightly blue in green, delicate jade, but also high-grade jade.

8, spinach green: translucent, green with blue-gray tone, like the green of spinach.

9, melon skin green: translucent-opaque, uneven green, and green contains cyan tone.

10, blue-green: blue tone is obvious, and green is dark.

1 1, dark green: translucent-opaque, with strong color, bluish black and pure texture, it is the best among jadeites.

12, turquoise: good transparency, dark green, blue-gray tone, low-grade varieties.

13, toad green: translucent-opaque, blue and grayish black tones.

14, grayish green: poor transparency, grayish green with even distribution.

According to the intensity of green is divided into:

1, brilliant green: transparent-translucent, pure green, even and bright, belonging to a rare variety.

2. Yang Qiaolv: Green is bright, delicate and pure.

3, light sun green: slightly transparent-translucent, green light bright and pure.

4. Shallow water green: green is light and uniform, with good transparency.

B. Transparency

It is an important factor in the evaluation of jadeite, commonly known as "water head" in the industry. The high transparency is the water head foot, which makes jadeite look crystal clear and gives people a moist feeling, while the jadeite with poor transparency is dry and dull, giving people a dry feeling, that is, poor water head and insufficient water. Don't use spotlight flashlight to observe the transparency of jadeite, but use the depth of light to measure the length of water head, such as 3mm deep for water diversion, 6mm deep for water diversion and 9mm deep for water diversion. The transparency of jadeite can be roughly divided into transparent, relatively transparent, translucent, slightly transparent and opaque. The more transparent jadeite is, the higher its value is.

C, texture

It refers to the structure of jade, and some materials refer to foundation and soil. Because jadeite is a collection of various minerals, its structure is mostly fibrous and granular. The fineness and roughness of jadeite texture are determined by the grain size. If the grain size is large, the texture will be rough and translucent to opaque; if the grain size is small, the texture will be fine and transparent to translucent. According to the particle size, the texture can be divided into dense grade, fine grade, medium grade and rough grade. Jade has reached a dense level, with almost no particles and high transparency.

D. Di Zi

The part of jade other than green is called Di Zi, also called "bottom". Di Zi reflects the background color and structure of jadeite, and also reflects the cleanliness and transparency of jadeite. According to its color, transparency and structure, it can be divided into the following categories:

1, glass bottom: as bright and transparent as glass, it is a very high-grade variety of jadeite (pictured below, auctioned at 240,000 yuan);

2, the bottom of the ice: clear and transparent, crystal clear as ice, giving people a feeling of ice and jade, and also a high-end foundation in jade;

3, egg white bottom: as transparent as raw egg white, jade is delicate and moist;

4, hibiscus bottom: jade is delicate, transparent, granular but can not see the boundaries of particles;

5, the bottom of the nose: like the nose, the transparency is slightly worse, not bright enough;

6. Green bottom: transparent, slightly blue-green;

7. Gray background: more transparent, with a slight gray tone;

8. Muddy water bottom: translucent and unclear;

9, lotus root powder bottom: translucent, like lotus root powder, slightly pink or purple;

10, fine white background: translucent, jade pendant, white background;

1 1, white sand bottom: translucent, white and sandy;

12, gray sand bottom: translucent, gray and sandy;

13, white flower bottom: slightly transparent, white and thick, with stone flowers;

14, porcelain bottom: slightly transparent, like white porcelain, grayish white;

15, taro bottom: opaque, such as cooked taro, gray;

16, dry white background: opaque, poor gloss;

17, bean bottom: opaque, with coarse particles and obvious emerald;

18, horse tooth bottom: opaque, like horse teeth, rough texture, white background;

19, incense ash bottom: opaque, like incense ash in color and rough in texture;

20, lime bottom: opaque, color like lime;

2 1, Gan Qing base: opaque, with thick stone flowers and rough texture;

22, the bottom of the stool: opaque, rough texture, dirty bottom, common black-brown or yellow-brown, like shit.

E. types

The species of jadeite refers to the greenness and transparency of jadeite, and also refers to the structural thickness and transparency of jadeite. Variety is an important index to evaluate the quality of jadeite, which is as important as color. Therefore, there is a saying that "laymen look at colors and experts look at varieties". When choosing jadeite, I am afraid that there will be no color and no variety. This statement is not that green is not important, but that only green jade gives people a dry feeling and lacks a spirituality. Therefore, a kind of jadeite can not only make the jadeite with light color look moist and crystal clear, but also make it even and full.

Traditionally, jadeite varieties are divided into old pit species and new pit species. The so-called old pit species refers to jadeite with pure green, uniform distribution, fine texture and good transparency, while the new pit species refers to jadeite with poor transparency and rough jade. At present, the classification method can divide jadeite into the following categories:

1. Old pit species: dark green in color, evenly distributed and fine in texture. If it is a glass bottom, it can be called the old pit glass species, which is the best in jade;

2, ice species: crystal clear, ice bottom, colorless, so the head is excellent, belonging to high-end varieties;

3, hibiscus species: light green, fine jade, good water head, belonging to high-grade varieties;

4, golden seeds: uneven green, filiform and intermittent, good head and good bottom;

5. Gan Qing species: green is thick and pure, but the head is poor, the bottom is dry and the jade is thick;

6. Flower-green species: the green is unevenly distributed, and it is veined or spotted, belonging to middle and low-grade varieties;

7. Bean species: jade is rough, opaque and rough, and the green color is called bean green, which is a low-grade variety;

8. Oil-green species: jade is delicate, with good transparency, shiny surface, dark green and impure color;

9, horse tooth species: rough texture, poor transparency, white particles. defect

The defects of jadeite refer to some impurity minerals, and their colors and shapes have an uncoordinated inspection effect on the whole. Often in the whole jadeite raw material or finished product, there are some spotted black and yellowish brown mineral particles and filamentous and turbid white stone flowers. These defects will affect the value of jadeite, especially high-grade jadeite.

crack

In other words, cracks, including primary cracks, secondary cracks and processing cracks, have a great impact on the durability of jadeite, so it will greatly affect the value of jadeite, so special attention should be paid when buying.

H, process

Craft is also an important factor to evaluate the value of jadeite, especially the carving craft, which should not only pay attention to good implication, but also pay attention to good-looking color. In addition, it also requires exquisite knife work, beautiful shape and smooth lines. A good piece of jade, combined with a good craft, is like icing on the cake, and its value will be greatly improved.

When coloring stops, there will be a phenomenon of black followed by green, which is called tinea corporis.