Hi I ordered jadeite from ebay. Before it was sent I was talking to the seller and ended up with a different kind of jadeites than what I ordered. He knew that I wanted to end up making something with it. I still do. At first I just thought it maybe couldn’t actually be jadeite but a while ago I googled it and came up with a picture of this jadeite that is from california that looks exactly like mine. This one is called light white and green american jadeites. It is 12 pounds. Does anyone know what the value of it is per carat? Also per kilogram? Thank you in advance!
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This is low specimen grade, no gemstone value
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The white was translucent when I held it up to the natural sunlight. The green part on the was opaque when I held it up to natural sunlight. This was on a way smaller piece. It was a weird combination of gemstone. I had no idea what it was. Thank you for all your help. Now I know!
If you could get a section polished or get lighting under it it would better to value but just based on the photos it does not look gemstone quality. Maybe possible carving material to practice on but not what is typically seen as anything of significant value.- Sorry to Say.
I put lighting underneath a smaller piece of the jadeite. The white was translucent. The green is opaque. Weird combo! Would the value of the jadeite stay the same? Thanks
I agree with Jbergman if it is jade it is poor quality but I do not even think that it is jade sorry
If it is not jadeite or jade? What could it be I wonder. It does look odd to me of how the translucentcy is not even. Does anyone have a idea? Thanks. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone had a different view.
I agree with SydP, the only other help I can offer is beware eBay, I do buy from eBay but only from known sellers that have established a good track record with me, new ones for the first few times small purchases until I know what I will be getting. There are many good sellers there but just as many bad ones. A good piece of jade/jadite will look very good even in the rough.
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oh thank you for the great advice! Maybe this rock isn’t jadeite after all!. I just did not know it if it was not.
Quartzite
thank you so much! I never would have known.
Hi if it is any consolation a lot of quartzite is died green and sold as jade in silver jewellery 
Agree with others that this is low quality, if it even is jadeite. Jadeite forms under low temperature high pressure metamorphism…small deposits are found in northern California, Klamath OR… the high pressure belt is discontinuous with deposits in British Columbia going into Alaska… In California and OR, they come from ophiolites that were metamorphosed at low temperature and high pressure… the host rock is called blueschist… talc, lawsonite, muscovite, and other serpentine derived metamorphic minerals associated with Jadeite… including some chromite. Almost all of American jadeite is of poor quality.
The jade market is opaque… difficult to judge quality and price. Myanmar deposits are being mined out. Sea green and blue jadeite was discovered in Guatemala… the Mayans had this beautifully colored jade. The source was found by geophysical mapping, after being lost for centuries…Guatemala has paired metamorphic belts, one of high temperature and lower pressure, and inland, one of low temperature and high pressure. The “mother lode” was discovered only about 10 years ago and has been mined out… Jade production from Guatemala is now artisanal with a larger supply from jade boulders found in streams as was initially mined in Myanmar. Myanmar jadeite still is the standard. The jade belt was formed not by compression of the crust by subduction but by the continental collision of India with Asia… very high pressures were generated, at a lower temperature…
Jadeite as a mineral is very uncommon. Not only are the metamorphic regimens uncommon globally, but jadeite is mineral that has an excess amount of sodium with respect to silica. Silica unsaturated minerals are not common.
Antique chinese jade carvings are all nephrite. nephrite is found in the USA most notably in Alaska and wyoming. It too is a high pressure metamorphic rock. nephrite is an amphibole while Jadeite is a pyroxene mineral
The person I got this from also spoke that he was the one who discovered black nephrite jade in California. I sort of had a some conversation a little bit with him. He did not only send me that piece of jade. He sent me different kinds of jade when he sent it to me. Like black ink nephrite jade piece. Something red jade. Something blue green jade. Their may had been another neat looking piece of jade. I don’t think I remember the name. It’s green and it is a piece of kind of a nephrite jade when I looked it up. When I say jade I know that I mostly mean nephrite jade to clarify. Maybe I could post them too…
Also whatever this stone is it is translucent when it’s white only I noticed throughout where I put the flashlight on the stone. Strange I think?
Meaning wherever the flashlight hits the color green it’s a opaque barrier. So the flashlight can’t shine through the color green only. White is only translucent color in the stone!
translucency and opacity have little meaning when it come rough jade chunks of rock…
You should take your specimen to someone who can examine it and do testing for the mineral content.
That could be your local university geology department or a rock shop with an expert in mineralogy.
Trying to identify it for pictures is impossible, which is why you are getting a variety of opinions.
Geological setting and provenance are critical. Northern California and southern OR are a melange of sedimentary rocks and 4 different obducted pieces oceanic crust… specific type local is critical. Depending from exactly where it came from it could be nephrite, jadeitite of low quality, serpentinite or even dyed quartzite…mineral specimens for sale should always be labeled at minimum, from the county and country that they came from… eg: rose quartz, Custer County SD…even county provenance is inadequate as many types of rocks can be found within a single county. Jadeite in north america is rare and very little, if any is of gem quality.
BOTTOM LINE; DON’T BUY ONLINE without verification of what you are buying… it’s the seller’s word only that what is being sold is as stated… only that much…
Thank you! I did buy this purchase a while ago by now. The more I think about what you said. You are 100 percent right! Maybe since I already bought the rest of the ““jade”” so called in the same purchase I could post that too? Actually intentionally I bought something else. Then i kind of had a conversation with him and ending up sending me something else in instead than my internall order. Several different things in a box instead of the initial order. It looks pretty neat!
Nephrite jade would make more sense, particularly if opaque. I have a green large rock with one end cut and polished… it is green jade from wyoming. I also have a 5x5 inch cut block of black jade from Wyoming and a box of smaller cut samples from Alaska… all are nephrite. Chinese white nephrite jade of the highest quality is called “mutton fat” jade… it’s very expensive and the antique carvings made out of blocks of this kinds of fine nephrite are museum pieces. Large antique pieces of carved jade are sold thru auction houses since the price can be in the millions. Nephrite comes in all colors… including white translucent, green translucent and purple translucent as well as opaque. The Chinese and Japanese have valued nephrite jade traditionally more than another gemstone. Jade is also known as the “stone of heaven”. It was placed on the corpses of the deceased as it was considered incorruptible, Diamonds were valued less and crushed to provide abrasive material for jade carving.
Nephrite is an amphibole mineral, the internal structure is a felt- like interlocking growth of small crystals… That give nephrite incredible toughness. Although it lacks hardness, it’s one of the toughest materials found naturally. The Chinese used block of poor quality stones as anvils. It’s history dates back 3 millenia.
Jadeite has supplanted nephrite as a sought after gemstone. A Chinese myth says that it was accidentally bought back from Myanmar in the 13th century as a balance stone by a Chinese trader. Jadeite is a pyroxene that is unique in that it is silica unsaturated… the Na/Si ratio is high enough to crystalize jadeite. It also is aluminous since charge balance has to be maintained… Al3+ substitutes for Si4+ instead of a sodic silica saturated pyroxene as is omphacite which also makes gemmy material. By appearance, jadeite has is more “shiny”… translucency and color make a difference in it’s valuation.
That being said, however, I have no idea of how jadeite is valued… the market is opaque and impossible to understand unless one is a profession jade trader. Myanmar jadeite was nearly mined out. Now that the military dictatorship of the country has taken over the jadeite mines, pricing is problematic. What is sold as jadeite is often Maw Sit Sit… this is a country rock of jadeite and contains jadeite with chromite, cosmochlore, sodium feldspar, and other minerals that are Al and Na rich.
What you have can be a number of non jadeite minerals… translucency and color are nice and if it takes a high polish, the results will be pleasing no matter what it actually is…finding out what it actually is will take analysis and expert opinion.
I will just post pictures of 3 different ones so you can see them! I don’t know where my red and ink black supposedly jade is at the moment. Here are pictures of 3 different kinds though.
That was piece number 1. The next one came this way in 2 pieces it broke during transit being sent. It was a slice. Interesting enough the slice has no fracture in it. Maybe a indection of jade?
