No matter what kind of theory it is, it will eventually fall into practice, which is also the most desired part of many collectors-jade identification. Collectors always ask, is there a so-called genuine jade? Or is it only good or bad in most cases, is it valuable? Are there a few simple steps to preliminarily identify the authenticity of jadeite? In fact, jadeite is authentic, and there are objective and absolute standards for the authenticity identification of jadeite. What is true is true, what is false is false, and there is nothing vague. But there is no difference between good and bad jadeite, as long as the price can match the actual value. However, there are still a few jadeites that can continue to appreciate, accounting for only one thousandth to one thousandth of all jadeite products. Not long ago, the first domestic "collector's jade course" jointly organized by Wan Ruixiang Jade Club and the national authoritative jewelry appraisal institution "National Jewelry and Jade Quality Supervision and Inspection Center" involved the contents of jade authenticity appraisal. We will explain it to you according to some ideas of this course.
Simple knowledge of division of a, b, c and d.
To understand the identification of jadeite, we should start with the division of jadeite A, B, C and D. Anyone who has a certain understanding of jadeite knows that A goods refer to jadeite without artificial natural treatment. B goods refer to jadeite that has been soaked in strong acid, removed impurities and filled with glue; C goods are artificially dyed jadeite; D goods means that the material itself is not a fake jade.
B goods destroy the physical structure of jadeite, which is called jade treatment in gemology. It can be used as a general ornament, but it has no collection value.
C goods do not destroy the physical structure of jadeite, but dye to imitate the color of natural jadeite, which is still treated in gemology. B-grade jadeite and C-grade jadeite are effective utilization of increasingly scarce jadeite raw material resources, which can decorate and beautify life, but have no collection value.
Nowadays, jadeite is mostly filled with glue, which is often called B plus C jadeite. If such jadeite is marked "optimized jadeite" and sold at the price of "optimized jadeite", it is no problem to buy it as a general consumption, but it is not suitable for collection.
D goods are fake jadeite, which is a fake, that is, people often say "non-jadeite". Similarly, if goods B, C, and B plus C are sold according to natural jadeite, it is also a fake and an industry fraud. Consumers and collectors who take fakes seriously will naturally suffer economic and emotional harm.
These fake jadeites can still be seen on the market at present. Take the Beijing market as an example. Since 2002, B-grade jadeite has gradually withdrawn from the counters of regular department stores, but concentrated on tourism products market, collectible market, stalls and large-scale jewelry exhibitions. The psychology of collectors holding Taobao is easily crushed. On the other hand, the collection needs to be supported by a special knowledge system, and it is also a necessary step for collectors to master some conventional jade naked eye identification methods.
The first step of identification: distinguish jadeite from "non-jadeite"
For the identification of jadeite, we must first determine whether it is jadeite or "non-jadeite", that is to say, we must determine whether it is jadeite, which is the first step of collection and purchase. Generally speaking, there are two criteria for judging jadeite, one is emerald, and the other is the internal structure interwoven with silk threads. Emerald is an aggregate of jadeite mineral particles. For example, a complete bracelet is composed of dozens or even millions of tiny jade particles in a special way.
(1) Emerald
Observing the surface or shallow layer of jadeite with naked eyes or magnifying glasses, you can see flaky flashes of different sizes, which are called emeralds. The flash phenomenon is caused by the surface reflection of jadeite particles. Each jade particle can be simply imagined as the shape of a matchbox, and each particle has different sizes. The matchbox has six rectangular faces, each of which is smooth. When the observation angle is appropriate, the emerald flash phenomenon can be observed.
It is worth noting that afghanistan white jade and other places also have stars flashing, which are not called emeralds. Collectors should learn to distinguish carefully in practice. Afghanistan white jade's surface flake flash is even and uniform in size, while jadeite's reflection phenomenon varies in size and length.
If it is confirmed as jade, it can be proved that it must be jade, but it is not necessarily A, it may be B or C. If you can easily see the flash with the naked eye, it also means that the quality of jade is not very high, because jade has large particles, small particles and small jade. Emerald is a very good identification basis, but emeralds are not everywhere. Emerald is easy to find on unpolished jadeite. On the polished jadeite, try to avoid the better polished parts and observe the parts that are not polished completely or are difficult to polish in a large area. You know, jadeite with delicate germplasm is not easy to see with naked eyes or a magnifying glass because of its fine particles, and it needs to be determined by other methods.
(2) the internal structure of silk interweaving
When we observe the polished jadeite products through light transmission, we can see the special jadeite growth line, that is, the boundary where jadeite particles combine with each other, which can show the phenomenon of interlaced silk threads. This phenomenon only exists in jadeite, and it is easier to see in middle and low grade jadeite. High-grade jadeite has a very delicate structure and excellent transparency, and it is not easy to observe the internal structure phenomenon under a low-power magnifying glass. At this time, it is necessary to cooperate with the observation of the internal defects of jadeite. Under the naked eye or magnifying glass, the internal defects (white cotton, white flowers and tendons) are intertwined, which can be used as the basis for judging jadeite. Generally speaking, silk is easy to appear in white cotton and gluten. As long as it can be seen, it is generally jade.
Emerald with coarse particles can generally see emeralds, and the transparency is not good. Jade with a little better transparency is generally fine in particles, and jade is invisible, but when it is transparent, it is easy to see the structural phenomenon of interlaced silk threads.
The second step of identification: the establishment basis of natural jadeite (A goods)
After confirming that the object to be identified is jade, the second step is to determine whether it is natural jade, that is, A goods. This is the basis for judging A goods according to the basic characteristics of natural jadeite.
Before that, we should learn one thing, that is, when identifying a commodity, we should know how to observe it with the right light. Not all light is conducive to the observation of jadeite, and colored light is easy to interfere with and mislead the identification of jadeite. The light suitable for observing jadeite includes natural light from the north window, white light from fluorescent lamp and white light from flashlight made of multi-head light-emitting diodes. In addition, the 10 magnifying glass used for jadeite identification is also a common tool.
Observe three ways to use up jadeite.
reflected light
Adjust the polished jadeite product to make its surface reflective, and observe the reflective part of the jadeite surface with naked eyes or under a ten-fold mirror. Careful observation will reveal many things, such as gloss characteristics, polishing smoothness and so on.
Transparent observation
Through natural light or artificial light source, the light passes through the jade and enters the eyes, so you can see clearly whether the jade has cracks, black spots, white flowers, color distribution and so on.
Side light observation
Observing jadeite vertically in the direction of transmitted light, we can observe the density of jadeite structure, the thickness and transparency of mineral particles, etc. Side light observation is helpful to see the water planting of jadeite.
Whether the jadeite to be identified is natural jadeite can be identified from the following aspects.
(1) luster
The luster of jadeite is a typical glass luster with a clear and moist feeling. The jadeite luster of B goods is poor, often oily or even resinous, which is dull. When observing, swing the jade back and forth and left and right, and feel the reflection intensity and uniformity of the jade through the reflected light on the surface.
(2) Surface polishing feature-microwave pattern
On the polished jadeite surface with coarse particles, due to the uneven hardness of mineral particles that make up jadeite, a slightly uniform uneven appearance will appear on the jadeite surface with naked eyes under the reflected light. Commonly known as microwave lines, like slight ripples on calm water. Microwave stripe on polished surface is an important distinguishing feature of natural jadeite A goods. Microwave lines are not obvious when polishing is rough, but clear when polishing is good. Smooth transition and uninterrupted phenomenon between depression and ups and downs. As long as you see the microwave pattern, you can be sure that it is a natural grade A jade, while the surface of grade B jade is rough and not reflective, and the imitation jade has no microwave pattern.
The phenomenon of microwave striation on the polished surface of jadeite with coarse particles can be observed with naked eyes. For fine particles, it is necessary to carefully observe whether there are microwave lines in the highly reflective part under soft light with a magnifying glass of 10 or even 20 times. This observation requires some experience.
(3) Color distribution characteristics
(1) The existence of various colors, especially secondary colors such as red, yellow and brown, is evidence of natural jadeite. Yellow, red and brown are formed by iron oxide, which is easy to be removed by pickling, which is in sharp contrast with the cleanliness of jadeite after washing away impurities and stains.
(2) Green is distributed in various forms, such as spots, veins, filaments and patches. Even on a full-color torus, its color distribution in different areas is uneven (the phenomenon of uniform color is rarely ruled out). If the color distribution is uniform everywhere, it can basically be judged to be C-grade jadeite. Nephrite, Ma Laiyu, Dongling stone and other jadeites are also relatively uniform in color. The green color of jadeite blends with jadeite matrix, which shows different shades of green or transmitted light, and the green color narrows, which is also evidence of natural jadeite. However, the dyed grade C jadeite will stay in its original place under strong transmitted light, and its width will not change.
(4) The clarity of jadeite particle contour.
Natural jadeite particles have clear outline, close natural combination and solid texture, while grade B jadeite is chaotic. However, this observation is only applicable to jadeite that can be felt by the naked eye, and is not applicable to jadeite with fine particles such as glass seeds and ice seeds.
(5) Observe the yellow tone through light.
Premise: Emerald must have certain transparency. Green varieties with white background or dark blue and green varieties are not applicable.
Natural jadeite in natural light, even if it is completely green or colorless, will also see a faint yellow tone when observed on a delicate and solid foundation. This is because there are iron ions in the gaps between jadeite particles in jadeite. Therefore, observing the natural jadeite with white light, we can see that there is a faint yellow tone on the background color of jadeite, especially the defective parts such as cotton and locks are more likely to appear. This is both common and important for confirming Jade A goods, but attention should be paid to accumulating observation experience.
(6) auxiliary observation method
Jade identification can also take some auxiliary means other than the above six methods, some of which are very effective in special circumstances, and can also be combined with the above methods to confirm each other.
The first method: pat.
We often see that when people choose jade bracelets, they hang them first and then knock them. This is one of the very simple and effective methods, so many people are using it. When the particles of the bracelet are not very big and there are no big cracks, hang the bracelet with fine iron wire and beat it with confirmed natural jadeite, agate sticks or other hard objects. Natural jadeite sounds melodious and far-reaching, and the finer the germplasm, the clearer the sound, while artificially treated jadeite sounds dull and has no echo.
The second method: weighing.
The average density of jadeite is 3.33, which is generally higher than that of similar jadeite. Weighing is sometimes very effective in judging authenticity.
The third method: wet feeling.
The surface of natural jadeite is smooth, and some coated jadeite is astringent and not smooth, which can be distinguished from the slippery feeling.
The fourth method: cold feeling. Generally speaking, it is also aimed at coatings and the like. The natural coolness is more obvious.
The fifth method: hardness test.
The hardness of jadeite is 6.5-7, which is smaller than crystal and larger than nephrite. For some raw materials, they can be distinguished by scraping.
The sixth method: fracture observation.
Fracture means that the fracture surface of jade has not been polished. Even in the finished product, sometimes tiny fracture surfaces can be seen. The cross section of jade is granular, the cross section of nephrite is flat, and the cross section of jade and glass is shell-shaped.
The above naked eye identification method is a summary of long-term experience, which is very helpful for jade lovers to understand and understand jade and complete the general jade identification. The laboratory is an objective appraisal result obtained through empirical judgment and scientific instrument testing. For ordinary enthusiasts, in the face of a variety of jadeites, the appraisal experience needs a process of accumulation and summary.
Generally speaking, there are objective and absolute standards for the identification of jadeite. But without systematic research, it is not easy to distinguish the authenticity of jade with the naked eye. Therefore, it is recommended that you be cautious in the purchase process. It's best to go to a regular shopping mall, choose a regular brand, and ask for an appraisal certificate from a regular quality inspection department, so that not only the authenticity and quality of the goods are guaranteed, but also the price will not be outrageous, and there is good after-sales service, which will make you feel more practical.
Text/Shen