12/04/2026
Stone of the week is Jade. Jade has been held in high esteem and thus value for centuries. There are two main types of jade – nephrite and jadeite. Whilst all jadeite is jade not all jade is jadeite. Jade occurs in a range of colours which has been used to good advantage particularly in China. Nephrite Jade comes from a range of places including Africa and the beautiful Maori Greenstone from New Zealand. Jade is very hard and, therefore, hard to carve which makes the beautiful jade sculptures and other carved items even more astonishing. The darker green jades tend to be ones from Africa and New Zealand. In part due to the potential value of good quality jade there are a number of other stones that are used either as they are or dyed or otherwise treated and passed off as jade. One of the most commonly seen ones is the stone called ‘new jade’ which is actually serpentine. However, others such as prehnite, aventurine and chrysoprase are also used in this way.
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