Jade is beautiful, but do you know its internal characteristics?

Generally speaking, we know that internal characteristics are internal flaws, which are ultimately synonymous with bad. But this is not always the case. The interior of gemstones and jade not only has flaws, but also some beautiful scenery, such as the internal scenery in green phantom crystal, horsetail-shaped inclusions in emerald green stone, etc. Their added value will far exceed the value of the material itself.

So let’s talk about what are the internal characteristics of jade? How do we tell the difference? We need to understand that almost every piece of jade has different types of internal structures, which is one of the important factors in jadeite evaluation.

Cotton, flower, tuft, crack

The first two are relatively tiny internal inclusions, while the last two have a greater impact on the quality and price of the material. How do we distinguish them?

Cotton: It refers to irregular white minerals mixed inside jade, existing between the crystal gaps. It may play the role of gluing the crystals together. Under light, it appears as filaments wrapped around the outside of the short columnar crystals of jade, forming an interlaced filament. In jadeite with a finer structure, we can regard this as a judgment of the fiber interweaving structure. Cotton exists in every piece of jade, and the slight or obvious cotton content will have different effects on the quality of jade.

Live and dead cotton

Live cotton: refers to the small light-colored cotton in the structure that is not very different from the surrounding structures in color, can be more integrated, and has good permeability. Such cotton can be dissolved by using a flashlight and has no effect on the quality of jade. It is generally found in some jade with finer structures.

Dead cotton: It is opaque and in bean curd-like shape, with a clear overall outline and distinct from the surrounding structure. It cannot be dissolved by light. The structure of such jade is generally coarse and loose, with poor blending. It cannot be dissolved even if it is cut thinly. Such cotton is called dead cotton and is not very valuable.

The cotton in different types of jadeite manifests itself differently. In some old and transparent jadeite, the cotton is generally more obvious. The older the structure, the more obvious the cotton appears. In some relatively tender types of jade, the structure is coarse and the cotton and the structure are integrated into one. It seems that there is no cotton, but in fact it is all cotton. The material is not transparent, and when you shine a flashlight on it, it is all cotton. It is like looking at objects in water. In transparent water, different substances appear very clear, but in turbid water, you cannot see the internal debris clearly.

Personal advice:

When selecting materials, you must look at cotton correctly. Sometimes the cotton looks conspicuous, but the structure is very old. As long as this kind of cotton does not cause qualitative damage, it can still be collected. Some of the original stones appear to have a little cotton in them, but the cut materials are very beautiful and no cotton can be seen. This is because the water quality of the stone is old and the cotton can be dissolved. Don't miss out on its beauty just because of its minor flaws.

flower

Also known as stone flower, it is an internal inclusion that is more serious than cotton, and may have black spots, white spots, dirty colors, etc. The black spots may be chromite or something like that, and may appear dark green under light.

White spots: Severe flocs (cotton) are a bit like solid crystals. Light ones are called cotton, and heavy ones are called dregs. There are many commercial names for them, such as white spots, stone brain, bean dregs, stone lines, etc. The small white spots in some wood types are called white dots (more common in glass and ice types). In fact, they are just a matter of size and shape.

Brown-yellow spots: external iron oxide invasion

Black silk (black chicken type) : The black color is caused by alkaline hornblende or dark omphacite. Generally, this kind of material is relatively tender jade with a loose structure. It has many crystal cracks and is easily contaminated by foreign substances. The secondary mineral filling forms noisy colors, which have a great influence on the grade of jade. (However, there are also very good varieties of black chickens, with crystal clear and bright black silk.)

Cracks on jadeite raw stones are a very troublesome problem. Some people lose in gambling on jadeite not because of their failure in judging the color, but because of their failure in judging the cracks. Cracks can cause certain damage to the quality of jade.

Grain (stone pattern, small grain)

Also known as stone veins or tendons, in gemology, veins are a kind of healed crack, just like a broken bone that grows back together. Jadeite is cracked due to drastic geological changes during its formation stage. During the pressure process of geological changes, external materials enter or fill and fuse the cracks, retaining traces of the original cracks. In Hetian jade, this is called a water line. This has no impact on the quality evaluation of jadeite. There are many small strands, which are formed by the action of modern mining tools. Now many mountain materials of jadeite and Hetian jade are blasted down by explosives. If the structure of the jade is relatively coarse or it has hidden cracks, it may cause many tiny strands. In addition, the vibration of the jade during processing will also cause it. This kind of pattern is called "cow hair pattern" in the industry.

crack

Since jade is rigid and the earth's crust is actually changing all the time, jade is inevitably affected by various dynamics, pressures, and mechanical forces over a period of more than 60 million years and becomes cracked, so cracking is inevitable. We who work in this industry should also have a clear understanding and treat cracks rationally. Unhealed cracks have a great impact on the value of jadeite.

How to distinguish which is a streak and which is a crack?

When we shine light on the surface, we can see the streaks, but when we observe the surface under reflection, no traces can be seen, and when we scratch the smooth surface with our fingernails, we cannot feel them. Cracks. When light is transmitted, light cannot pass through. Cracks can be seen on the surface under reflected light, and the grooves of the cracks can be felt by scratching with fingernails. Another type is that very dark colors appear on the surface, proving that this part had grooves and cracks in its original state, just like the iron oxide enriched at the fracture of Hetian jade.

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