Jade for well over five thousand years, the Chinese people have revered it and called it the stone of heaven. In the beginning it was used for tools, rituals, and grew into a source of status, wealth, and power. Chinese artisans are masters at sculpting this stone into untold shapes and forms. The ancient Chinese used the term Yu / Jade to describe certain qualities of the stone. Many different stones could be put in this category although nephrite was the most prized and important. In China there are two types of nephrite Jade that were carved, mountain Jade, and river Jade. Mountain Jade is mined in the mountains, river Jade was gathered in rivers. Mountain Jade material is often considered inferior to Jade gather in rivers. Jade materials vary in quality, generally poor quality would be consider and often call mountain Jade. Today most collectors only consider Chinese Jade to be a stone /gem called nephrite and “when I use the word Jade I am speaking of nephrite”. There is another stone / gem Jadeite that the Chinese have carved since the 18th century, it has more vibrant colors and can be polished to a very glossy brilliant shine, but sometimes it can be hard to distinguish it from Jade particularly white. Jadeite usually comes in multi-colors. Jadeite is found in Burma and also used in fine Jewelry. Most collectors will agree nephrite Jade makes the finest carvings.

The Chinese people have been collecting Jade carvings for thousands of years. Generally not until the last 30 or 35 years did many collectors that are not Chinese actually start to take interest in Chinese Jade carvings. Fine Jade carvings remain the most desirable and collectable objects of all the Chinese arts. This is because of several factors the history, rarity and beauty of the Jade material, the amount of time and skill it took the artisan to carve an object, and the relative ease to identify and authenticate fine old Jade carvings. Anyone with the desire and with little effort can also identify these fine old Jade carvings. All Jade material is not the same; there are differences in hardness, translucency and color. Often collectors are more concerned with seeing light through Jade, instead of looking through the stone; you must focus your eyes in the Jade. The finest Jade is a very tough fibrous stone that is generally hard as steel, translucent, with a pleasing color. Because of Jades tough fibrous nature it cannot be cut and formed. It must be grinded down using various rotary and hand tools with abrasive mediums such as sand, quartz, and other minerals harder then Jade. Larger Jade pieces are scored and chipped away. These abrasives were made into a paste to coat the tools before grinding.

Rotary tools likely started when man learned how to make fire spinning one stick between his hands on another and continued to improve from there. During China’s long history there were important developments in materials that made tools such as bronze and iron. The Chinese were masters in development and use of rotary tools for carving jade. Arguably Jade carving peaked in China over two thousand years ago during the Warring States period. The vast majority of Chinese art is held in private collections inside and outside of China, and the finest pieces remain unpublished. We will probably never see China’s finest Imperial collections we can only imagine. I see the Chinese Jade Market as levels of quality of materials, periods, carving details, conditions, forms, motifs, and where these fit the market because Jade carving has always been a type of business. It is very important that serious collectors have a good understanding of Jade materials, motifs, and capabilities of the Chinese artisans of any given period.

There are several things I would like to mention to serious collectors that have not been able to view, handle, or observe a large amount of Jade Carvings. Hopefully this will help them to identify the better old carvings. Start by viewing as many photographs of Jade as possible, your eyes can be your best teacher. Read all you can about Jade. If you read something that does not add up or contradicts something you have read before try to keep an open mind. You may have to read between the lines because most books seem to be written with little information to help the collector authenticate Jade carvings. Many books use the same examples over and over this only keeps the collector in the dark. Collectors need properly dated fine examples with high quality photography with good explanations to be published. China is changing and collectors should make an educated evaluation to determine where there collection will fit the future market as it expands and more pieces are available.

Every collector should have good loupe of at least 10x power. Jade is a very tough fibrous stone / gem, and when the skin is cut away and the heart of the stone is exposed and polished it is very clear without any of the inclusions that you see in old buried Jade. The value of Jade is determined by the quality of the stone, similar to diamond. Someone may have a 5-karat diamond that is worth less than a fine1 karat diamond, or the diamond may only have value to industry. Generally the best carvers carved the best quality jade. Jade is a tough fibrous stone, the more compact and dense the stone is the harder it becomes. Some may argue but the translucent Jade material is the better quality and more desirable. When Jade is buried it slowly starts to break down the density and fibrous structure of the stone. This happens because of the microscopic expansion and contraction of the stone. The pressures and elements in the soil, and the amount and kind of elements in the soil and density of the Jade will determine how much the Jade will absorb these elements. Jade is not a sponge this is a very slow process.

Jade has several colors. The main colors are white, green, yellow, gray and black. The color white comes in many shades toward the gray family and sometimes it can take on a very slight greenish hue. Green has many shades from very pale almost white to almost black. Generally the medium to light greens are referred to as celadon, the very dark green is referred to as spinach. There is one tone of green that collectors should try to avoid and you will know it when you see it. It is very ugly soft and opaque green some call it vegetable. The name vegetable can sometimes confuse collectors to believe all green is bad, not at all so. Sometimes green can take on a yellowish hue. There is a yellow with a greenish hue. I would consider it yellow, and also gray and black. There is another jade color referred to as mutton fat white this is fine pure white. Another color is call Lard it is off white very dense, opaque, unusual, and highly prized by the ancients, I have seen this material on Han dynasty pieces. Onion Jade is a very transparent white stone and highly prized by the ancients. Imperial green is a beautiful green carved mainly during the Qing period. There are others but these are the most commonly referred to. The most commonly preferred seem to be the lighter colors white and celadon. Spinach and Imperial green are names generally used for Qing Dynasty colors. Gray and black of good quality have a soft beauty. Black and darker gray Jade was exhausted by the Yuan dynasty. You must remember the most important thing is the quality of the Jade material it must be pleasing to your eyes.

Fine Jade is translucent many times in photographs; the colors will wash out from the flash and seem white. There are other stones that may look like Jade to those who have not handled large quantities of carvings, this material can seem dense and heavy. If you do not have a lot of experience or you may have some doubt, buy yourself a good penknife. If you have a carving no matter how old and it has a spot that has original color, and is clear translucent with a good finish, try to scratch that area and put a little pressure on the knife “it will not scratch because it is Jade”. Many Chinese call it hard Jade. There are other stones that the Chinese carved that it could be under the same condition I mentioned, the most common are Agate and Jadeite. These stones are hard and can be easy to distinguish from Jade because of the brighter multi-colors and jadeite can be very highly polished. Jade colors are more subtle and uniformly solid one color. Agate and jadeite stones are not as abundant as Jade. In the ancient times there was a Jade material that was revered for its very soft look and feel. The supplies have been exhausted long ago. The examples I handle were very heavily infiltrated from contact with bronze and other elements with know sign of fissures, or decay and a small area of original white color. This material was opaque with a very soft feel with a little sheen and could be scratched.

There are ancient Jade Carvings that have been buried for thousands of years. Their structure and density has completely broken down every area has infiltration. Regardless of color usually they are solid brown or multi-colored from being buried and they have no areas with original color and the surface will scratch. The inexperienced collector “should not buy the carving if it does not past the scratch test” and I don’t care who may be selling it or who owned it before. There is a chance it is not jade or could be re-carved sanded with a beautiful soft polish and you will be paying a large amount of money. In time you will or whoever inherits that carving will be surprised to fined out it is worth a fraction of what you paid. Why would anyone with no experience take that chance it is not necessary? Collecting Chinese Jade has become more refined, the collectors must be able to identify these things, and not rely on someone to tell you its OK it does not matter. These things can easily be identified; all you need is a Penknife and Loupe.

Many inexperienced collectors will see a carving that looks very old. If the carving is very dull and likely to have the look of an archaic carving, it can look as though it just came out of the ground. There is a very good chance it is not Jade. I would suggest that you “don’t buy it” But if you love the carving because it looks very old, the chances are it will be a very poor quality Jade, likely ugly Green, or not Jade at all, and not older then the Ming Dynasty. If you know exactly what you are buying “Don’t pay much money.” Sometimes given the right conditions Jade that was buried a long time, can actually have the look of very dry stone, this Jade is very fragile it can chip very easily, when chipped you can see the original Jade material, almost as if another skin formed. I have seen this patina on several archaic carvings. Many Archaic and Neolithic Jades after being buried a white opaque patina forms; many believe this is mainly caused by fire because the ancients were believed to burn jade with the deceased. Jade materials changed throughout China’s history, Jade would be gathered in one area until the supply was exhausted. In many cases each area had there own unique materials quality and colors.

There are many different words use to explain the infiltrating elements from the soil that Jade can take in after it has been buried along time. Some examples are, iron, specks, pepper, russet, clouding, veins, rivers, striations, inclusions, green oxidation form contact with bronze and there are other names. All Jade carvings were not buried in graves. The Chinese people would protect there most valuable possessions underground. The important thing is these inclusions only occur in carved Jade after it has been underground a long time. The Chinese artisans have been carving Jade for thousands of years, their tools and abrasives have changed and improved throughout their history. With these changes the carvings have become more complex, although everything was basically still done by hand, which was very tedious and labor intensive. Rotary tool and abrasive improvements may have sped things up slightly but not until modern times when power tools were developed did carving time actually speed up. The power tools move hundreds and thousands of times faster. The cutting abrasives are more refined and harder. Because of the high-speed cutting the tool marks on Jade carvings changed drastically. This can be very helpful to Jade collectors to identify old Jade carvings. You must use a good loupe.

In old Jade carvings tool marks can be seen in the holes that are drilled. You will see very tiny lines that look like the threads inside a nut or threads on a bolt. These tool lines are caused because the rotary tool was moving slowly and the abrasives are cutting the stone slowly. Power drills, more refined abrasives, and diamond tipped bits can cut Jade extremely fast and will not cause threads to form. This can also be seen in incised lines you can see tiny tracks of the tool because of slow cutting and repetitive action of the carving tool and abrasives. The end of incised lines many times will taper down to a point and under a loupe you may see the tip is actually two or more tiny tips. Towards the later archaic periods carvers started to angle one side of there cuts in lines because this was a better technique to cut into Jade. The very edge of the incised lines under the loupe will be gagged not smooth and even. Where lines form a curl or circle it will be uneven and you will be able the see how the tool had to make several angles to form them. In early archaic pieces the lines were carved with the sides straight up and not angled, there often deep thicker and very cleaned out. During Neolithic times incised lines often seem to be dug out in very small sections and may not show any tracks in the thin lines. The inside of the line will look uneven and gagged thru the loupe. This would have required a very hard tool and some think a diamond tipped knife could have been used on early archaic and Neolithic carvings. The holes will show threads and be conical shaped. Power tools can make lines in one pass and the edges of lines will be smooth and the inside of holes will not have threads.

Once you have a good idea what to look for you should start looking at other areas around the eyes, ears, teeth, feet between finger and toes. Many inexperienced collectors will see tool marks that may look like circles and assume they had to be done by power tools. You must realize that high-speed tools do not leave marks like this and remember the Chinese have had rotary tools for thousands of years. Many times the less translucent carvings can actually soften and sag and these track marks cannot be seen or have smoothed out. When you look at the edge of a line it will look soft and rounded, and the inside of the lines will be soft and rounded like a U. This is similar to a trench in the ground, which after time will start to sag and fill in. The highly translucent Jade carvings this seems to happen less. It takes a long time for Jade to sag in these areas.

The surface of old Jade Carvings can be extremely helpful for collectors to identify old carvings. You should use a loupe when checking the surface. Remember when the skin of the raw Jade is removed the heart of the material is very clear of inclusions. When Jade is carved and polished very smooth it is generally free of marks on its surface. Occasionally you will see a carving that has two colored sections or there could be fissures and skin left when the stone was carved, and these were carved around to give the carving more character, check the surface with your loupe all inclusions must match the surface of the rest of the carving and fit together. Flaws that were left during the carving process are easy to distinguish from carvings that have been buried and developed inclusions. It takes a very long time to develop inclusions in a Jade carving the artisan would not wait and waste his time and money even if he could live that long.

Most buried Jade develops some type of inclusions after along time in the ground. Burial often causes the soils elements to seep into the Jade and follow tiny microscopic fissures that develop from this expansion and contraction and spread thru the Jade. Often these are visible fissures called rivers or veins inclusions. These are unique to Jade carvings because of its fibrous nature. There are elements in the soil that penetrate the Jade and cause it to cloud up and lose some translucency. When Jade carvings developed clouding from burial this is just as important as any other inclusions and cannot be artificially induced. Clouding takes a very long time to occur and can be seen as it starts when you check the surface with a loupe. Other elements penetrate the Jade and discolor it.

Usually the elements that seep into Jade can be traced back to a breakdown of the surface layer of the Jade. When you look at the Jade surface through the Loupe most times you can trace these infiltrating elements back to the source or where they began. This may be a tiny fissure that develops or a little decay there is a weakness in that area of the Jade. Occasionally you may see a Jade carving that areas may be discolored or clouded and you are unable to see the starting point. Look into the jade if it penetrates the jade and melts into it evenly and “ is not” just lying on the surface and penetrating slightly this could not have been induced artificially. Occasionally old buried Jade will discolor more in the carved areas and folds. These are usually hard Jades but not the best materials and the tool marks were not sanded out and seem to be rougher cut.

Because Jade carving has always been a business I see the Chinese art market in levels. This can be very helpful to find your niche or level. There are ancient Jade carvings that were carved with very fine detailing and a lot of delicate hand work. Every crack and crevasse would be carefully sanded and polished. This would take a very long time and a lot of skill and these carvings were sold to the wealthy. The best carvers used the finest materials regardless of size. Jade motifs were often copied even the finest pieces. There are rougher carvings that were cut with less handwork and more rotary tools were used and these were not finely detailed and carefully sanded in every corner and crack. Often the eyes can help identify these carvings. To speed thing up the eyes are carved using bow and hollow drill bit they will be completely round and flat on top leaving marks like threads on a bolt. These carvings generally have a wonderful polish and more than likely carved by the less skillful carvers that had to produce carvings as fast as possible to keep up with demand. These carvings were basically originals but many copies were made using often the same materials. The Jade material was not the finest but these carvings would still require a lot of work. These carvings had a nice translucency and appealed to those who wanted good Jade and they were valued more for the Jade material and form than attention to detail.

There are ancient Jade carvings that were carved with poor materials or stones that may look like Jade. These carvings can be any size and mimic the motifs and forms of the day. The lines could be carved by hand or rotary tools and sanded then polished quickly because the material was soft. These carvings often give the illusion of detail. Those who purchased these carving did so because of the look and not the materials that were used. This is not any different than today if someone buys a knock off Rolex watch that almost looks the same as the original and serves the purpose it was purchased for at a fraction of the cost. This was not in anyway to cheat someone. The buyers understood exactly what they purchased. These levels continued the through most of China’s history because Jade carvings were used less for rituals and more for status, wealth, and power. Many inexperienced collectors will see tool marks and not consider the materials that were used and over value the carving. Jade was valued more than gold and the Chinese Jade artisans ran their business to fill the demands.

Old Jade carvings that have been buried a long time the surface will show tiny scratches, chips, and tiny holes just from the pressure of the soil. You can see these thru a loupe. Many times buried Jade carvings will have some black or brown specks. When you look thru the loupe these specks can be seen as they infiltrate the Jade. Interestingly these specks can penetrate into the Jade and work their way below the surface with no evidence of a starting point. Often old buried jade may be polished to a point that the surface has been cut into; this is not a good idea and never polish a jade carving to the point of cutting into the surface. Fine old buried Jades will maintain their luster depending on conditions it was buried in and the surface will usually only need to be washed and slightly buffed never use anything or any method that may cut into the Jade surface. Often the Chinese collectors will have an old buried pocket piece which they will rinse off and rub it a few minutes a day by hand or with a very soft cloth. They may do this for up to ten years to bring out the beauty of the Jade without cutting into its surface. Often the Chinese collectors will apply a thin coat of wax to old Jade carvings to preserve the surface and to give the Jade a soft look. Using wax on very old Jade carvings is a much better alternative then polishing out the surface. When you do the scratch test make sure your not just scratching wax on a carving. This can fool inexperienced collectors.

Occasionally you may see a very old Jade in a photograph and it looks perfect. With all the ways to evaluate old carvings there will be several areas that identify it as very old. At times Jade will decay and this happens because of the conditions it was buried in. Most times good Jade will start to decay in small areas it does not decay all over evenly. There are fine ancient Jades that at times take on a very thin tan like skin after long time buried this is a form of decay. There are ancient Jades that take on a dry white decay in small areas and when you look through the loupe it is not just laying on the surface its part of the Jade material. Some ancient Jades that have been buried seem to dry out the surface layer evenly. Some buried Jades have dry areas and dense clouding or are discolored on one side and the other side is almost perfect. There are Jades that have extensive clouding and the cracks and folds get very dry and slightly powdery. There also is a substance buried Jade can take on and is white and powdery. This substance can coat the Jade and fill in all the carved lines and is not part of the Jade material. This is picked up from the decaying corpse and can develop quickly, within a few months.

There are many surfaces Jade can take on from being buried a long time. There are Jade carvings that go back thousands of years and have never been buried. These Jades can show some type of inclusions after thousands of years from sweat, dirt, and dust there will generally be something however minor. These carvings also will have soft edges in lines, carved places, and have fine scratches, and handling ware. This all can be seen through the loupe and the way it was carved, motif, and material will determine when it was carved. The condition of a Jade carving is very important this can make or break the value. Every Jade carving and material has differences and buried under different conditions. Throughout China’s history many different Jade materials were use until supplies were exhausted and most of these materials are just not available today.

Dating Jade carvings has many collectors confused because the Chinese artisans did similar carvings using motifs, parts of motifs, and forms that had previously been carved earlier. This is why it is very important to view as many properly dated pieces as possible. Dating Jade carvings is slowly improving as more collectors take the time to publish their collections. Jade carvings motif, styles, tools, and materials continued to evolve from period to period. When a collector views a Jade carving it is important to observe areas such as eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, wings, tail, legs, feet, toes, hair, beard, clothes, hands, fingers, muscles, shapes, forms, materials, colors, infiltration, translucency, size, carving details. Attention to these areas will be helpful to recognize the stylistic changes that gradually took place. Anyone can make an honest mistake dating Jade carvings.

There are no secrets to dating Jade carvings the more carvings that are published the easier this will become. Often carvings fall into two different periods. For example Qing / Ming if you don’t have information to nail it down to one period or another. Usually in time you will come across a carving that will help you to attribute it to one dynasty. When you have a good understanding of styles and motifs and Jade materials. You will see why the finest early pieces used the finest quality Jade and why many believe the Warring States to be the peak of Jade carving in China. The fine Ancient Jade animal carvings are very detailed and often can be distinguish by the lifelike feet. Often in the Qing and Ming Dynasties animals using fine materials the feet were not carved with a lot of lifelike details. Jade carving details varied though out China's history and skill, purpose, and materials had a lot to do with the amount of detail on each carving. Generally the translucent materials with a lot of detail are the most desirable.

The Song Dynasty is considered the time when Chinese Jade carvers started to copy Archaic forms and motifs. Archaistic styles continued in the Ming and Qing Dynasties as well. To less experienced collectors this can seem very difficult to distinguish these pieces from archaic originals. These Song archaistic carvings are not exact copies; there are subtle differences in the style of the motifs. The Song forms are generally more stylized and sophisticated. As an example, a person can easily distinguish a 56 Chevy and 57 Chevy once you have seen them together. The Ming dynasty had subtle differences from the archaic and Song dynasty pieces. During the Ming period to the present many archaistic pieces were carved using poor quality material and flamboyant styles. These carvings were either very soft flat ugly green, or not Jade. They were generally carved using hand rotary tools or power tools when they became available. These carvings had such flamboyant archaistic motifs there was a market. They were sold to those who did not care about the quality of material and attention to detail. These types of carvings were produced through most of China’s history. There seems that more were produced during the Ming Dynasty to the present, “ do not pay much money for these pieces. “ As in the past the Ming carvers produce carvings using fine Jade material and detailed carvings. Also Ming carvers used good material but not the finest and not a lot of attention to detail. These carvings would take a good polish and would be purchased by those who wanted good Jade more than attention to detail. These carvings were Ming style; the carvers were less skilled and would carve many copies of the same piece.

Often Chinese Jade collectors may think a form or motif is original, it is likely to have been done before and carved in the style of that period. Qing Dynasty Jade material, carving tools, and abrasives took a leap forward. Qing carving often included some part of an archaistic motif with the Qing style. The Qing carvers often tried to improve on archaic traditional motifs. During the Qing dynasty fine materials were generally plentiful. Starting in the Ming period and continuing to peak in the Qing period there were other softer stones carved. These are often called soapstone and they filled that gap in the market for the lower end collectors. These stones are easier to carve and often very beautiful. Qing Dynasty carvers “raised the bar” so to speak and arguably many believe Qing carvings are the absolute pinnacles of Chinese Jade Carving. Qing Jades are the most published and abundant. Personally what concerns me is often they have no signs of ware or inclusions and are being sold only for the material and motifs.

Fakes have many collectors afraid to even trust in their own collections and knowledge. Good quality Jade was more expensive than gold in the ancient times and very expensive today. Most Jade materials that were used over China’s history have been exhausted long ago and are not available today. What can be actually done to age good Jade? I have heard they put acids on them. Acids in the soil can decay Jade after thousands of years. I don’t know of any acid that can attack Jade material in a short period of time and cause it to look like it is decayed in a small area, look natural, and blend in. It could be dyed or stained. Good Jade is tough and fibrous not a crystalline material. I don’t know of any process that could dye and penetrate good nephrite Jade. It could be stained, but this will only penetrate very slightly and will just lie on the surface. Old Jade carvings that have been dyed will most likely be fine old pieces, and if buried at some point the dye will to start to ware off in areas. These areas can be infiltrated when buried. Under the loupe you will be able to see what has been dyed and what is natural inclusions from burial and how easy they can be recognized one from the other.

They can dye Jadeite to make fake jewelry; Jadeite is a crystalline material and can be dyed. When you see carving that are two tone its likely Jadeite and these carving became popular when China started importing a large quantity of Jadeite materials. Jade sometimes can be difficult to distinguish from Jadeite particularly the color white. Jade carvings could be burned and would turn whitish like a chicken bone. Old white opaque Jade can be identified easily with very little experience. They would have to carve and age it in the same way as the ancient piece. After Jade has been burned and buried for thousands of years there are differences. I have not seen one piece of this type of Jade that even had a remote chance to be a fake. If you have no experience and are not sure, don’t buy these ancient white opaque pieces. It could be smoked, by covering it with clay and put it into a kiln. This will totally ruin the Jade and give it the fried chicken look. I have never seen this on any piece only in a video. And stones that mimic Jade I don't know what things could be done but they will not look like fine jade and with very little experience and your knife you won't be fooled.

The inexperienced collector should always remain cautious and do the scratch test to be safe. Always remember if you have doubt do not buy it, you will likely find something better in the future. It is known that if Jade is buried with a corpse for a short period of time, several months it could develop a powdery white substance that sticks to the surface and can fill in the cracks. I don’t exactly know what this white substance is and I am not sure if this would happen with dead dogs. I have seen this very rarely on two pieces. This substance does not penetrate the jade and is a rare occurrence. Consequently, my pieces had several areas that would date them to late Ming or early Qing, and they were not at all important pieces.

At times during the Ming / Qing Dynasty Jade Carvers would use the rind / skin by leaving a thin small area to enhance and bring attention to a particular area. In no way was this rind / skin left on Jade carvings to fool their purchasers. These areas of skin have a different look than if the jade was buried a long time and started to reform the skin. They stained parts of a carvings to enhance particular areas and bring attention to them and give a little of the character of older Jade carvings. These types of carvings were carved in their present day style and this was a new original artistic way of carving Jade. Now if you purchase a Jade carving with the skin because you love it, just discount the skin area as if it was not there and examine the rest of the carving then tie the two together they must flow evenly all areas of the carving must fit together.

Always keep in mind surface ware, clouding, and inclusions do not appear in the middle or heart of un carved Jade stone. The heart of Jade is clear and inclusions take a long time under ground to form. Checking areas that would fall in the heart of the stone is a sure way to tell if the carvings inclusions developed from burial or were carved around. The skin was very poor carving material and these pieces would generally leave only a thin area of skin, often these areas will not flow with the contour of the carving. The skin area will often be flat and not match the contours of the carving; with your finger you can often feel this. These carvings are more often pebbles and were carved trying to save as much material as possible. This likely started in the late Song period and by the Ming period it was in style. Don't let this worry you few were carved in this manner. These Jades were not carved to fool their purchasers or to do an exact copy of something archaic. The purchasers of such pieces were often the wealthy and they were more interested in owning carvings using these new techniques. Jade carvers were not out to cheat their customers and simply is not good business for expected future purchases.

There were old fine Jade carvings that had been passed down for many generations in many families. Today we see photographs of Neolithic carvings oozing from tombs that were there so long they just broke open and exposed their contents. Quality Jade was very expensive and carvers would not take the chance to fake something using good materials. There is a very poor quality Jade vegetable green and other stones that mimic Jade. These have been carved for those who did not want to pay the price of good Jade. There was a market for these types of Jade carvings; they were made all through Chinese history. Those who purchased these pieces knew exactly what they were buying. What concerns me is that some people will use these Jade carvings and call them all modern fakes, simply not true. Many of these pieces are as old as some of the finest ancient pieces. The problem comes in were the buyer does not have the knowledge and does not know the difference and pays to much money.

Today in China, Jade carvers are still filling the niches of the market. There are finely detailed Jade carvings in the style of today using the finest material available carved by highly skilled artisans. These carvings are sold to the wealthy collectors. There Jade carvings using good materials, less skilled artisans, less complicated motifs, not finely detailed, not sanded and polished well. These Jade carvings are translucent and glossy and no question their material is Jade. These carvings will be sold to those who want good Jade with nice carving and they are not concerned with fine detail and complicated motifs. There are Jade carvings that use the poorest quality of Jade or not Jade material that mimic quality motifs and the Jade look. These carving are sold to those that buy for the look only.

Collecting Chinese arts is changing and will continue to change as China opens up to the world. Collecting is more refine and collectors must take the time to understand what they are investing in and where there collections fit into the market. Always remember the best pieces have not been published yet. Only the collector can be faked and with a little effort to recognize good pieces this will not happen to you. The translucent carvings seem to maintain their carving, original polish, original color, with often less infiltration regardless of the age. These fine carvings do not have to be re-carved. This is the reason most believe the translucent materials are the best. The finest quality translucent old Jade carvings cannot be faked and remain as it has always been the most collectable art of China.

Actually all old Chinese Jade carvings can be collectable and it is up to the collector to find his own niche. The collector must understand what he is purchasing regardless who you purchase from or who owned it before. The basis of good old Jade carvings is simply first and foremost the Jade material, then period, carving details, condition, form, and motif. Use your penknife and loupe if you have any question about a carving. View as many pieces as possible from the Internet, books, and in person. Observe the details and surface carefully, you will get the feel of the period, style, quality of Jade, and carving. The Chinese artisans are running a business as they have done for thousands of years and are not out to cheat collectors they only want to meet the market demands. Hopefully this will be some help to those collectors that may have fears or doubts about their collections. Only after the collector can identify fine old Jade carvings will they find collecting jade to be an enjoyable experience.

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