Why is the great wisdom of our ancestors

Many families have one or two heirlooms. Since ancient times, our ancestors have had the custom of selecting heirlooms. However, when choosing heirlooms, most people would "pass down jade rather than gold". Why is that?

1. Compared with gold, jade has the following advantages as a family heirloom:

1. China’s unique jade culture

The Chinese have a special complex about jade culture. Over thousands of years of development, the exquisiteness of jade wares has been continuously improved. "Jade" is not only a precious ornament, but also a symbol of identity and character. In ancient times, jade seals even represented the highest imperial power. For ordinary people, jade carries their good wishes and expectations, and people believe that jade can protect the safety of themselves and their families. For literati and scholars, jade is a symbol of good moral character. People use the phrase "a gentleman is like jade" to describe a person with good character.

Although gold is a precious metal and no one dislikes valuable things, in the eyes of Chinese people, gold is always associated with "vulgarity". In addition to being valuable in themselves, heirlooms are more important in conveying the spirit of the family, so jade is naturally more suitable than gold.

2. Gold has a price, but jade is priceless

Chinese people have had a saying since ancient times that "gold has a price but jade is priceless". Although gold is a very stable hard currency, so there is a saying that "gold in troubled times and jade in prosperous times", but the stability of gold also means that it has almost no room for appreciation. Jade is different. In addition to its own high value, jade also has great potential for appreciation. Especially as a family heirloom that is passed down from generation to generation, jade is obviously more suitable.

3. Jade is rarer

Although gold is a rare precious metal, its output is still very large compared to jade (it can be circulated as currency), and the quality of gold has always been relatively stable. On the contrary, with the improvement of refining technology, the purity is getting higher and higher.

Jade is unique. It is easy to find two identical gold pieces, but it is impossible to find two identical jade pieces.

As the saying goes, rare things are valuable. The output of jade is relatively low, and the output of high-quality jade is even lower. Moreover, with the increase in mining year by year, good jade is becoming increasingly rare. Those high-quality jades are basically kept privately as heirlooms. There are fewer and fewer high-quality jades available on the market.

2. The significance of jade

1. Economic value

When keeping jade as a family heirloom, the first thing to consider is its economic value. We all know that jade has room for appreciation. If high-quality jade is passed down from generation to generation as a family heirloom, the value of the jade will continue to increase. Moreover, due to the scarcity and uniqueness of jade, once the price goes up, it is difficult to fall back. Instead, it will continue to rise over time. From an economic point of view, passing down jade is naturally more cost-effective than passing down gold.

2. Spiritual Value

In addition to economic value, heirlooms provide more of a spiritual support and belief, especially for the children of aristocratic families in ancient times, who attached great importance to their own character and reputation. Therefore, treating jade as a family heirloom is not only about passing on property, but also about passing on a spirit, educating future generations to have the same character and morals as jade, to be able to keep themselves clean and stick to their original intentions no matter what happens.

3. If you want to pass down your legacy, you must first take good care of your jade

1. What kind of jade is worth passing down?

Although jade is good, not all jade is worthy of being passed down as a family heirloom. Do you want to choose a piece of jade as a family heirloom? First you need to confirm these things:

(1) It is a natural A-grade product: The most basic requirement for a family heirloom is that it is genuine. If it is just a fake that has been artificially processed, then no matter how beautiful this "heirloom" is or how long it has been passed down, it is just a fake with historical significance and cannot fulfill the value of the heirloom itself.

(2) Try to choose high-quality jade: If you want to keep jade as a family heirloom, try to choose jade with good water quality and high quality. This kind of jade has a higher appreciation potential, and compared to cheap jade, the properties of this kind of jade are more stable and easier to preserve and pass on from generation to generation.

2. If you want to pass on your genes, don’t do these things

If you want to pass down jade as a family heirloom, you must ensure the quality of the jade. If you are not careful, the jade may change in appearance and lose its value in a few years! So the following things must be avoided:

(1) Bumps: Jade is very brittle and can be easily damaged if bumped. In the worst case, it may cause cracks or shatter directly onto the ground, causing losses!

(2) Large temperature difference: An overly cold or overly hot environment is not conducive to the preservation of jade and can easily cause cracks inside the jade.

(3) Dirt: Keep jade away from oil smoke or dirty environments to prevent these stains from remaining on the surface of the jade for a long time and slowly penetrating into it, forming unsightly stains.

The most comprehensive jade professional terminology, refuse to be a "spectator" in the jade industry

Jade Professional Terminology

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pit

That is, the mine pit where the jadeite was excavated. According to the time the jadeite was buried underground, the longer the time, the more old the pit is, and the shorter the time, the more new the pit is. Simply put, the jade produced from old mines is of higher quality, while that from new mines is of lower quality, and in very rare cases the opposite is true.

"medicine"

In jade forums, you often see phrases like "this medicine is too big" and "everyone come and see if you have bought the medicine", which means that you have made a loss, the goods are not as good as the price, a small medicine will result in a small loss, and a large medicine will result in a large loss.

Window

"Opening a skylight" or "opening a door". When you buy jadeite, all you see is rough material. The original stone is covered with a thick skin, making it difficult to identify its quality. Therefore, a "skylight" is opened on the original stone (a piece is cut) for observation.

cotton

The "cotton" in jade is a cotton-like, colorless inclusion that exists between the particles and cracks of jade. It appears in the shape of ribbons, strips, lumps, etc. and is translucent to slightly transparent.

Crack

The fractures of jadeite are caused by external stress at deep geological depths. Generally speaking, the big ones are called cracks and the small ones are called streaks. The streaks are very harmful to jade. The more streaks there are and the deeper they penetrate into the jade stone, the more difficult it is to extract the material, and the jewelry made from it will not be very beautiful. Experienced people in the jade industry often say: It is better to bet on color than on cracks, and it is better to bet on small cracks than on large cracks. Cracks are caused by intentional or unintentional human collisions. Most of them are external horizontal cracks, which are visible to the naked eye. There is no filling in the middle and they can be scratched by fingernails, destroying the quality of jade.

Stone Flower

Stone flower is a kind of floc-like, white sediment inside the jade. The drier and blockier ones are called "stone brain", the more scattered ones are called "reed flowers", the cotton-like ones are called "cotton", and the fine and drifting ones are called "snowflakes".

Stone Pattern

Stone pattern is a bit like cracks, but there is no colored filling in the middle. The common "ice pattern" is also a type of stone pattern. Flawless jade is very rare and usually has more or less stone patterns on it, so you don’t need to worry too much about it.

kind

From the perspective of quality value, from good to bad, they are glass type, ice glass type, ice type, glutinous ice type, glutinous type, and bean type.

Emerald

It refers to the visual effects, density, hardness, color, and light transmission and refraction effects of jade. It is the intuitive expression of the mineral particles of jadeite after they are combined with each other. It is also an important sign for identifying the authenticity of jadeite. It can be divided into three categories:

① Flocs: The "cotton" and "stone flowers" mentioned above are one of the manifestations of jadeite.

② Orange peel effect: Under reflective conditions, when observing the polished surface of jadeite, you can see bumps and depressions of different sizes and directions, like orange peel. This effect is more prominent in A-grade jadeite.

③ Fly wings: When observing the polished surface of jadeite under reflective conditions, you can see white reflective spots like fly wings. When you turn the jade, the "fly wings" will appear to sparkle. However, it is difficult to see in well-polished jadeite.

Steel

Steel refers to the fact that the texture of jade is very fine and tight, and after polishing it has strong reflectivity, like the surface of steel.

Water

Water extraction refers to the last process of jadeite grinding, which is also the final polishing process. Generally, the jadeite is polished with a cowhide belt to make it appear smooth and shiny.

Water head

Transparency, the ability of jadeite to transmit visible light. Sufficient water head means good transparency, and poor water head means poor transparency. One part of water means that light can penetrate 3 mm, two parts of water means that light can penetrate 6 mm, and three parts of water means that light can penetrate 9 mm. This means that one-third of water is transparent, one-third of water is translucent, and half-third of water is slightly transparent. The length of water head is related to the size, density and transparency of jade crystal particles.

Qiying

Jade has good water content, high transparency, fine grains, and orderly and even arrangement. When light passes through such jade, the edge will refract a bright line, commonly known as fluorescence, which is generally seen in the raised circular edge. Luminescence is the optical manifestation of orderly arrangement of crystals.

Glue

The glue of jade, as the name suggests, is like solidified glue. When you rotate it, it will look like flowing glue due to the action of surface light. The light refracted on the surface of jade is a whole and continuous piece. The phenomenon of stickiness can only occur on the surface of jadeite when the internal crystal particles are very fine.

Small, Medium and Large

Small five, medium four, and large three are common terms used in discussing jade prices. They represent price ranges. Three, four, five, and six refer to the digits of the price. Small, medium, and large refer to the first digits 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9 and are not specific values. Xiaowu is probably between 10000-39999.

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