GeologyRocksTaiwan Seven-Color Jade
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Hello Fraze, The usual
Thu, 08/18/2011 - 20:28Hello Fraze,
The usual greeting to a geologist would be 'What would you like to drink?'. It is a pretty much universal greeting and goes down well most places.
Most Westerners think that jade is various shades of green. But it can run from black to white (Chinese friends have a number of pieces, and I have a friend who sells Chinese stone carvings and obviously knows a good deal about them) with a host of colours between, so I have seen a variety of colours, but never anything like the photo you posted.
Personally, I would have doubts as to the authenticity of it. Anyone else on here have any thoughts on this or knowledge of this stone?
I would suggest taking it to your local museum, assuming they have a geology department, or another dealer. Watch out for DTS - Dry Teeth Syndrome - as he sucks in breath through his teeth. It either means he doesn't know or he is baffled - or he is about to lie!
BTW jade is actually gem quality actinolite as a rule.
John
“Civilisation exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.” - Will Durant
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I've never seen anything
Fri, 08/19/2011 - 07:23I've never seen anything quite like it but I wonder if it's similar to certain types of amber that appear in jewellery in increasing quantities which are composite, in other words small fragments fused together with a clear resin. Your specimen looks like it might be the result of a similar process as it doesn't appear natural to me.
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Yes, it might be a
Fri, 08/19/2011 - 22:16Yes, it might be a composite. The colours are very vivid for jade.
I can't help feeling that something like this would have turned up at one of the mineral and fossil shows, but I've not heard of it.
John
“Civilisation exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.” - Will Durant
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This is coming rather late,
Thu, 08/25/2011 - 12:50This is coming rather late, but nevertheless. Thank you both for the input, I appreciated what you had to say. While I'm still hopeful that this is a natural stone rather than a composite, I realize that it's rather doubtful. I think I will need to wait until I get back to the States before I can find out for certain.
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re: Taiwan 7 color jade
Sun, 07/15/2012 - 18:20I bought a 7 color jade vase in Taiwan a few years ago while there on business. The colors are much the same as what your photo shows. It is about the same weight, hardness, and polish as any other jade, and I have never questioned its authenticity. I was told the 7 color jade is only found in Taiwan. I still have it and will see if I can figure out how to post a photo.
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colorful stone
Mon, 07/23/2012 - 01:41it is neither.
neither composite nor natural.
it is a real stone with color enhanced with artificial dyes.
stone is porous and will accept the dye, especially before polishing.
I have two beautiful vases from around Hualien - I paid 1000 bucks for the larger one KNOWING that the stone color is augmented - because the shape was so incredibly gracious.
sorry to disappoint you.
however, I always say that the buty is in the eyes of the beer holder, so if you like it - keep it! it makes for a great conversation piece, never mind it does not grow that colorful in nature.
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Taiwan Seven-Color Jade
Submitted by Fraze on Thu, 08/18/2011 - 19:59.Hello there, salutations, and whatever wonderful and arcane greetings geologists use to identify one another.
I have been living in Taiwan for around seven months, and recently went on a trip around the island. My father is a former professional geologist and avid rock hound, so I always keep an eye out for interesting specimens. I found an especially beautiful kind of rock in several stores that the owners told me was called Taiwan seven-color jade. It's usually carved, mostly into vases, but there were also a few polished uncarved samples. After looking through a number of different shops, I found a particularly nice specimen and snatched it up. A photo of my piece is here:
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d53/frazeocity/IMG1583.jpg
I would really like to know more about it. It doesn't seem to be artificial, manufactured, or otherwise tinkered with other than being polished and mounted. On the other hand, it is extraordinarily colorful, and I would like to figure out more about what it is and how it forms. As best I can tell it's a conglomeration of various colors of jadeite, but that's where my geological skills end. I've tried searching both "Taiwan seven color jade" and simply "seven color jade" on Google, and both searches got me a lot of advertisements for vases and tables but no literature on the stone itself. If anyone could tell me more about this stone, or direct me to a website (or book) that deals with it, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!