Description

Jade Oval Cabochons.  The group “Jade” is comprised of both Jadeite and Nephrite.  Jadeite is an intense bright to medium green, while nephrite tends toward darker green to blackish green.  Jade can be translucent or opaque, and all varieties contain inclusions and/or streaks/streamers.  These natural characteristics are highly prized in jade, and also help buyers distinguish it from its many “simulants”.  As with imitation turquoise, other stones are often dyed to look like jade – serpentine, chalcedony, prehnite, and aventurine are just a few.

Green nephrite deposits are found at many locations around the globe, with British Columbia, Siberia, Pakistan, and northwestern China as the leading producers. Old and still active subduction zones with ophiolite have the potential to produce green nephrite. This is because green nephrite bodies are closely associated with their serpentinite host rocks, part of the ophiolite exposed on land when an ocean basin closes. All major green nephrite deposits cluster in this type of convergent-margin environment.