Beautified jadeite, make sure you see it before buying it

Everyone's first impression of jade is visual. There are some jades that look good but are called "heavy powder" by experts, that is, there is too much polishing powder residue. The color of this type of jade is enhanced, which is ultimately reflected in the price doubling or even more. Have you ever encountered such "problematic" jade?

Before polishing (left), after polishing (right)

The Importance of Polishing for Jade

Jade polishing is the process of rubbing jade with special polishing powder. Polishing powder polishes the surface of jade to be fine and smooth, increasing the jade's ability to reflect light, thereby forming a smooth and lustrous surface and glass luster, improving brightness and reflecting the exquisite material of jade.

The effect of jadeite before and after polishing is comparable to "plastic surgery". Good polishing is an improvement in processing, giving it a better aesthetic appearance.

Before polishing (left), after polishing (right)

Several manifestations of jadeite color

1 Primary Color

Green, purple, white or nearly colorless are primary colors. The primary colors of jade are all formed inside the crystal. The color is distributed in whole granular, vein-like or irregular states, has a sense of transparency, and is distributed relatively naturally.

2nd secondary color

Jade color refers to the red and yellow colors in jade, which is the color formed on the surface of jade after mineralization. Its distribution pattern is mainly between cracks or mineral particles. It is controlled by the cracks and appears in a network, sheet, or impregnation shape. The color distribution is uneven and it is not in a crystalline state.

3 Surface color

Color is added to the surface of jade through certain means, and polishing powder residue is one of them. In addition, the dyeing of jade after acid washing can also be regarded as surface color. Of course, the dye of this dyeing will be concentrated along the cracks.

Green dye is distributed in filaments along the cracks

Residue of colored polishing powder

Polishing powder is divided into colored powder and colorless powder. When polishing with colored polishing powder, corresponding color will remain on the surface of jade. If it is not cleaned thoroughly and subsequent wax sealing is carried out, these polishing powder particles may become an interference factor that affects people's judgment of the color of jade.

After being "decorated" with polishing powder, a white jade bracelet that originally cost only a few hundred yuan can easily be sold for several thousand yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan. This is what is most infuriating.

The "magical effect" of polishing powder

1 Green polishing powder

Green polishing powder is mainly used on the surface of jadeite with light green body color, which will increase the green area near the original green root or deepen the color of the green root that was not very strong originally.

2 Blue polishing powder

Blue polishing powder is mainly used in the cracks on the surface of jadeite whose color is close to white, so that the blue polishing powder can penetrate into the interior of jadeite through the surface cracks to imitate "floating blue flower" jadeite.

3 Purple polishing powder

Purple polishing powder is mainly used on the surface of jadeite that is originally light green, to make the surface of the light green jadeite covered with a layer of light purple to imitate "spring-colored" jadeite. Purple polishing powder can also be used on the surface of jade that is originally light purple to deepen the light purple color.

Polishing powder residue on purple jadeite

Identifying polishing powder residue

1. Observation through light

Observe the color of the jadeite surface under light transmission. If the jadeite is colored with polishing powder, you can see polishing powder residues distributed in the form of dots, nets or sheets between the cracks on the surface of the jadeite, and scattered in large quantities along the concentrated cracks. A magnifying glass is needed to observe here.

2. Alcohol Wipe

For natural jade, wiping its surface with alcohol will not cause any discoloration. However, if the jade is polished and colored with colored polishing powder, gently wiping it a few times with a paper towel soaked in alcohol may leave some traces of color on the paper towel. However, the effectiveness of this test also depends on whether the wax sealing the jade has fallen off. Otherwise, even if the wax layer is wiped off, no polishing powder residue may be found.

3 Read the certificate carefully

There is a set of standardized standards for the identification of jadeite. Different appraisal agencies are able to mark the color caused by polishing powder, such as "polishing powder residue" or "colored polishing powder seen on the surface". Of course, different organizations may have different labels on how much residual content there is. Of course, this also gives some jadeite with subtle amounts of polishing powder residue an opportunity to "skirt the edge." In many cases, you will see that the identification result is still A-grade jadeite, after all, the structure of the jadeite has not been destroyed.

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