Identify purple dyed jadeite (C-grade) with the naked eye; be careful when handling jadeite with water

Dyed C-grade jadeite refers to jadeite that is artificially colored. The dyeing method is generally to use acid to wash the colorless or light-colored, coarse-structured jade to remove impurities, and then bake it at low temperature to expand the gaps between the minerals. It is then soaked in dye to allow the dye to penetrate into the gaps between the minerals along the cracks of the jade, and finally dye the jade with color. There are four types of dyed jade on the market now: purple dyed jade, green dyed jade, expanded green dyed jade, and red dyed jade. The key points of identification with the naked eye are the distribution of color in the jade and its appearance under sunlight.

The following situations are common in the purple dyed jade market.

①Purple jadeite with dyed directly on the surface. Lidian purple dye is applied to the surface of jade products, so that the dye adheres to the cracks on the surface and the gaps between mineral particles, causing the jade to have a light purple color. This type of dyed jade mainly appears in some jade rough semi-finished products and bracelet products.

② Dye the jadeite purple with blasting color. The jade products to be processed are first heated and then quickly immersed in liquid purple dye. Due to the effect of thermal expansion and contraction, more small cracks appear on the surface of the jade, and the dye also penetrates inward along the cracks, causing the jade to be dyed. This type of dyed jade is mainly found in some jade hand-dyed products.

③B+c grade purple jadeite. Crystallized raw sugar, dried seeds, white jadeite with dark impurities and of average quality are treated by soaking in strong acid to remove impurities, then dyed with purple dye, and finally vacuum-evacuated and injected with glue.

How to identify these dyed purple jades?

(1) Purple jadeite with direct dyeing on the surface

Since the surface is only lightly dyed, the internal structure of the jade is not destroyed and some characteristics of natural jade are still retained, such as a smooth and bright surface, a glassy luster, visible orange peel features, and a crisp sound when struck, which is very deceptive. But it can be identified by the following characteristics.

① From macroscopic observation, the colors are evenly distributed, the color roots are not visible, and the boundaries between different colors are not obvious, indicating a transitional state. However, the crystal particles of natural purple jadeite are often relatively granular. The purple color comes from the inside of the particles and is unevenly distributed. The color varies in depth depending on the texture, and the color boundaries are often quite obvious.

②The color is distributed on the surface, and the dye is distributed in the form of silk screen and dots. Since the dye is directly dyed on the surface, the dye mainly adheres to the surface of the Longcui products. Under the light, the purple dye is distributed in the gaps between the surface mineral particles and small cracks in a silk screen pattern. Under a magnifying glass, some dots of purple dye can be seen attached to the pits.

(2) Dyed purple jadeite

The main identification features are as follows.

① The surface is rough, the luster is not strong, and the network of cracks is obvious. Due to the thermal expansion and contraction caused by heating and soaking in dye, the surface of the jade appears rough when observed on the reflective surface. It does not reflect the bright glass luster of natural jade, and there are obvious and dense grid-like shrinkage cracks.

②The dye is enriched in the network cracks. Under magnified observation, the purple dye is mainly concentrated in the grid-like cracks.

③ The knocking sound is dull. Due to the numerous tiny cracks caused by the color explosion, the structure of the jade is loose, and the knocking sound is not as crisp as natural jade, but rather dull.

(3) B+C grade jadeite

This type of jade products is made by acid-immersing, dyeing and then injecting glue, which allows the dye to not only penetrate deep into the jade, but also dilutes the dye originally concentrated in the cracks or gaps between particles and tends to be evenly distributed. The typical silk screen structure composed of the dye can no longer be seen, which is very similar to natural purple jade. This is one of the more commonly found purple jade products of B+C grade jade. The main distinguishing features are as follows.

①The surface has obvious acid etching characteristics. When observed under magnification, spider-web-like acid-etching patterns can be seen on the surface; while natural jade mainly has smooth raised and sunken orange peel characteristics.

②The color is diffuse and has no color root. The color is relatively even, divergent and dull. The transition boundary between the purple area and other colors is not obvious, and it is a gradual transition. The color is divergent when observed under transparent light, and there is no color root.

③The gloss is not strong, the transparency is cloudy and foggy. After processing, jade often appears whitish overall, foggy, and not very lustrous, reflecting the characteristics of an oily luster; it is not as bright, transparent, clear and round as natural jade.

④The knocking sound is deep and dull. Because B+C grade purple jade has been treated with strong acid etched and glue injected, its structure has been damaged, and the sound it makes when knocked is relatively dull and less crisp.

It can be seen from this that although the market is full of many types of dyed purple jade, as long as you master some basic knowledge of jade and conduct a comprehensive analysis from the aspects of color distribution, gloss, surface characteristics, structure, and knocking sound, you can discover the flaws of these dyed purple jade and avoid unnecessary losses.

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