When many novices come into contact with jade, the first issue they are concerned about is its authenticity. The jade industry is so complicated, and they are afraid of being deceived if they are not careful. So, when looking at jadeite under natural light, can you tell with your naked eyes whether it is A-grade, B-grade or C-grade jadeite? Many experts and veterans may have this skill, but for novices, we still have to use tools and scientific methods to make judgments.

Today I will introduce to you how to use tools to judge the authenticity of a piece of jade.

Let’s first take a look at the test specimen we got, a lucky melon pendant with kingfisher feathers.

Next, we need to prepare the tools needed for our experimental process. These tools are available on Taobao.

1. One Charles filter

2. A 365mm or 395mm ultraviolet lamp, which is what we commonly call a banknote detector lamp.

3.9V yellow xenon lamp

4. A magnifying glass with a magnification of 30 times or more

5. If conditions permit, you can also prepare a refractometer, but this experiment does not have one.

The first step of the experiment is to shine an ultraviolet lamp directly on the pendant. From the two pictures above, you can see that the pendant has a fluorescent reaction, which means that the pendant is not purely natural, but has been injected with glue containing fluorescent agent, which will produce a fluorescent reaction under ultraviolet light.

Let’s take a look at the reaction on the other side of the pendant, paying attention to the green part circled in the picture above.

The second step is to use a Charles filter and a xenon lamp to illuminate the pendant. We can see that the green area has turned purple. From this, we can determine that this jade pendant is not a pure natural A-grade jade, but a B+C grade jade that has been injected with glue and dyed.

Let’s take a look at another experimental piece, a jade pendant with floating colorful flowers.

By observing the peace locket with the prepared magnifying glass, you can find that the green color of the peace locket is net-like and there are many small pits on the surface. These are the traces left after acid washing, which shows that this peace locket is not purely natural. In order to remove impurities, it has been soaked in strong acid.

Next, we used ultraviolet light to shine on the peace locket. The fluorescent reaction was as bright as that of a light bulb, which shows how fake it was.

When observed using a Charles filter and a xenon lamp, the floating green patterns turned purple. From this we can also determine that this peace locket has been soaked in strong acid and has been colored, so it belongs to B+C and is not genuine.

Finally, let’s take a look at this jade bracelet. This picture was taken outdoors in natural light.

The jade bracelet is tied with red thread. We cut it open so that we can take it off and observe it easily.

The first step is to use a Charles filter and a xenon lamp to observe. You can see that the bracelet has not changed color at all. This first step has been passed.

The second step was to observe closely with a magnifying glass. No small pits were found after pickling, and the texture was quite fine, so the second level was passed.

As can be seen from the picture above, this jade bracelet has some fine lines that are invisible to the naked eye, and the nail buckle has a bumpy feeling. These are natural fine lines and are minor flaws.

Finally, the bracelet did not react when exposed to ultraviolet light. From this we can determine that this jade bracelet is pure natural A-grade jade.

Through the above three steps, you can basically judge whether a piece of jade is real or fake. However, nowadays there are endless counterfeiting methods. If you are really unsure, you can send it to a regular appraisal agency to issue an appraisal certificate. This is the safest way.

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