JADEITE - Canadian Institute of Gemmology

32
Since jade has been found in a number of archaeological digs in bible lands, it must hve
been a familiar gemstone of early cultures... The International Bible Encyclopedia and
Concordance printed in 1908 suggests that 'jasper' as used in the Scriptures might well be
translated jade in many instances. In Revelation when jasper 'clear as crystal' is mentioned,
fine translucent jade could be the gem to which it refers (21:11)... Merrill F. Unger explains
that considerable uncertainty is found regarding the Greek term iaspis, usually translated
jasper. Ancient peoples likely included lovely green jade as well as several hues of
translucent chalcedony as iaspis. The greek word often is used not so much to describe
color or other special optical properties of the gem, but to indicate qualities of an object too
beautiful to describe adequtely. The delicate hues of jade with its translucency approaching
the clarity of crystal might be the highly esteemed and cherished gem of the people of Bible
days.
In fact, it would seem likely that the various stones referred to as iaspis do not include jadeite, but
are other simulants instead.
6. Mining and Cutting Jadeite
Jadeite in Burma is mined in the mountains and rivers. The center of the industry remains the Uru
River valley, where the vast majority of jadeite is recovered from alluvial deposits. The jadeite from
such sources is found in rounded boulders with a relatively thin outer layer and is referred to as
"river jade". Jadeite traders tend to associate the best quality of rough jadeite with river jade. This is
because weathering tends to remove damaged areas from the stone and the thin skin of the rough
stone allows for a more accurate assessment of the quality of the jadeite within. The jadeite located
in hillside sites is found in irregular chunks. This jadeite is called "mountain jade". Mountain
jadeite stones usually are covered with a relatively thick outer layer that is called "mist" by Chinese
traders. Jadeite dikes are the most desirable forms of deposit to discover: "It is said that to find a
dike is to become an instant millionaire. For whilst ordinary miners flail away in the common soil,
only rarely turning up a boulder of jade, the dike is the mother lode itself, a bridge straight to
heaven" (Hughes, et al 1996-97). Some dikes contain only jadeite and albite. Others have a
boundary on one or both sides of dark gray to blue-black amphibolite-eckermannite-glaucophan or
dark green actinolite. Chhibber (1934) describes the boundary with serpentinite as being marked by
a soft, green border zone that consists of a mixture of the adjacent vein minerals and chlorite, with
or without calcite, actinolite, talc, and cherty masses.
There are numerous descriptions of jadeite mining in Burma from the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. Warry (1888, quoted in Hertz 1912), for example, provides an early description
of the mining at Tawmaw:
At the end of seven and a half miles from Sanka we emerged upon a broad plateau, some
hundreds of acres in extant, the whole of which had been cleared for mining purposes. The
excavations, which were in some cases of considerable depth, presented the general