Real jade is one of two different minerals: jadeite or nephrite. Both are dense, tough and cold to the touch, and both are imitated by cheaper stones and materials sold as jade, most often serpentine (sold as "new jade"), dyed quartzite, glass and plastic. At home you can rule out many fakes by weight, temperature, the look of the color under a strong light and bubbles inside glass. What you cannot do at home, or from a photo, is tell untreated jadeite from bleached, polymer filled or dyed jadeite. That needs a gem lab such as GIA or one of the established Hong Kong jade laboratories. Value runs from a few dollars for a souvenir bangle to six figures and more for fine untreated jadeite in a vivid even green.
Quick answer
- Real jade is jadeite or nephrite. Serpentine, dyed quartzite, glass and plastic are the usual imitations.
- Heft, coldness, color under light and bubbles help rule out fakes. Only a lab separates natural Type A jadeite from treated B and C.
- Most jade bangles and pendants sold to tourists are worth approximately $10-100. Fine untreated green jadeite can be worth thousands to six figures.
How to check yours, step by step
- Feel the temperature. Hold the piece in your closed hand for half a minute. Jade, quartz and glass start cold and warm slowly. Plastic and resin feel close to room temperature from the start and warm almost at once.
- Weigh it in your hand. Bounce it gently in your palm next to a glass or quartz object of similar size. Jadeite is noticeably heavy for its size. Nephrite is slightly lighter. Serpentine, plastic and many glasses feel light.
- Shine a strong light through it. Use a phone flashlight held behind the piece in a dark room. You are looking for the internal structure: natural jade shows a fibrous or granular texture, uneven patches of color and small cloudy spots. Dyed stones show color concentrated in cracks and along grain boundaries, like ink spreading through a web.
- Look for bubbles and swirls. Under a 10x loupe, round bubbles or flowing swirl lines point to glass. Natural jade never has round gas bubbles.
- Check the surface polish. Look at the piece at an angle to a window. Jadeite takes a glassy polish. Nephrite often shows a softer, oily or waxy sheen. Serpentine often looks soapy and may show fine scratches from everyday wear, because it is much softer.
- Look for marks of carving. Hand carved older pieces show slight irregularities and tool marks in deep cuts. Machine carved modern pieces show identical repeated details and very even depths.
- Look for paperwork. A lab report number engraved or attached to the piece, or a report in the box, is worth checking against the lab's online report lookup.
Jade and its imitations compared
| Material | What it is | How it feels and looks | Typical value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jadeite | Pyroxene mineral, mostly from Myanmar | Very heavy for size, glassy polish, granular texture, any color from white to green, lavender and black | $50 to six figures depending on quality and treatment |
| Nephrite | Amphibole mineral, from China, Canada, New Zealand, Russia and others | Slightly lighter than jadeite, oily sheen, fibrous and very tough, spinach green to white | $20-2,000 for most pieces, more for fine white and antique carvings |
| Serpentine ("new jade", bowenite, "Korean jade") | Softer mineral, widely carved | Light, soapy feel, scratches easily | $5-50 |
| Dyed quartzite ("Malaysia jade") | Quartz rock dyed green | Lighter, sugary texture, color in veins | $5-30 |
| Green aventurine ("Indian jade") | Quartz with tiny mica flakes | Sparkly flecks under light | $5-30 |
| Glass | Molded or cast | Bubbles, swirls, sometimes mold seams | $1-20 |
| Plastic or resin | Molded | Warm, light, soft, sometimes a seam | $1-10 |
| Hydrogrossular garnet ("Transvaal jade") | Garnet rock from South Africa | Heavy, often with black specks | $10-100 |
Many of these names include the word jade. Under trade rules in many countries only jadeite and nephrite should be sold as jade without qualification, but "new jade", "Korean jade" and "Malaysia jade" are common names on souvenir pieces, and none of them is jade.
Home observations that help, and the ones to skip
Cold to the touch. Real jade conducts heat slowly and feels cool, then warms gradually. So do quartz, glass and serpentine. This test separates stone and glass from plastic and resin, nothing finer.
Density and heft. Jadeite has a specific gravity of about 3.3, nephrite about 2.95, while serpentine, quartzite and most glass sit around 2.5 to 2.7. A careful hydrostatic weighing on a gram scale can separate these, but in the hand the difference is subtle unless you have a known piece to compare.
The scratch test. Jade is hard, about 6 to 7 on the Mohs scale. Older advice says to try scratching it with a steel knife. Skip it. Steel can mark soft serpentine and plastic, but it can also scratch a polished jadeite surface, leave metal streaks that look like scratches, and damage the one thing a buyer pays for. A treated piece with a polymer filling can also scratch more easily than natural jade, so a mark proves little either way.
Sound when tapped. Collectors sometimes tap a jadeite bangle gently against another jadeite object and listen for a clear ringing note. Polymer filled Type B bangles tend to sound duller. This is a trained ear test, unreliable for most people, and a hard knock can crack a bangle.
Color zoning under light. Natural jade color sits in clouds, patches and veins that blend into each other. Dye collects in fractures and between grains and looks like a web or spider veins of color under a flashlight. Even, intense green from edge to edge in a cheap piece is a warning sign.
Bubbles in glass. This is the most reliable home observation. Round bubbles, swirls and a slightly orange peel surface mean glass.
The Chelsea filter and UV light. Some dealers use a Chelsea color filter, under which some dyed green jadeite shows red or pink, and a UV lamp, under which polymer filled jadeite can glow a chalky blue white. Both are screening tools only. Natural jade can react too, and many treated pieces do not.
Type A, B and C jadeite, and why only a lab settles it
The jadeite market divides by treatment, and the difference in value is enormous.
| Type | What has been done | Effect on value |
|---|---|---|
| Type A | Natural. Cut, polished and surface waxed only | The full market value |
| Type B | Bleached in acid to remove brown staining, then impregnated with polymer resin to fill the weakened structure | Usually a small fraction of Type A; can yellow and weaken over years |
| Type C | Dyed to add or improve color | Low; color can fade |
| Type B+C | Bleached, filled and dyed | Lowest of all |
Type B and C jadeite are real jadeite, which is why heft and coldness do not catch them. The treatment is only reliably detected with laboratory equipment, mainly infrared spectroscopy, which shows the polymer, and other spectroscopic methods for dye. GIA and the established Hong Kong labs issue reports stating whether jadeite is natural Type A or treated. These reports cost roughly $50-200 per piece for most jewelry, more for large or complex items.
A photo cannot settle any of this. Treatment changes the structure inside the stone, not anything a camera sees on the surface, and the color of green jade in photos shifts badly with lighting and screens. WorthPic can describe a piece, point out signs of glass or dye, and estimate a range, but for jadeite that might be valuable, the lab report is the answer.
What drives jade value
For jadeite, the market judges these features, roughly in order:
- Color. Pure, even, vivid green, often called imperial green, is the top. Strong lavender, pure white "ice" and intense yellow follow. Grey, brown and mottled colors are lower.
- Translucency. Light passing deep into the stone, often called water, adds a lot. Opaque, dry looking jadeite is far cheaper.
- Texture. Fine grained jadeite looks smooth and glassy. Coarse grain shows a sugary structure and lowers value.
- Clarity and cracks. Black spots, fractures and cloudy patches reduce value. Bangles with cracks lose most of their worth.
- Treatment. Only Type A carries the premium.
- Carving. For both jadeite and nephrite, artistry and age matter. Fine Qing dynasty nephrite carvings and white "mutton fat" nephrite are a market of their own.
| Piece | Typical value |
|---|---|
| Souvenir bangle, serpentine or dyed quartzite | $5-40 |
| Type B or C jadeite bangle | $20-200 |
| Small Type A jadeite pendant, pale or mottled color | $50-500 |
| Nephrite bangle or carving, modern | $30-500 |
| Type A jadeite bangle, good translucency and color | $1,000-20,000 |
| Antique Chinese carved nephrite, good quality | $500-10,000 and more |
| Top imperial green Type A jadeite bangles and bead necklaces | Six figures and up at major auctions |
Most jade that turns up in family jewelry boxes falls in the first three rows. That is not a reason to skip a check. Jade bought in Asia decades ago, especially in Hong Kong or Taiwan before treatment became common, is occasionally natural and good quality. Our guide to costume jewelry covers the rest of a mixed box, and the same logic of separating natural from imitation runs through our guide on whether pearls are real.
Common mistakes
- Treating "jade" on a tag as proof. Serpentine, quartzite and glass are routinely sold as jade.
- Scratching a piece with a knife. It can damage a valuable surface and does not detect treatment.
- Assuming a cold, heavy piece must be natural. Type B and C jadeite are both cold and heavy.
- Judging color from a phone photo. Green jade looks very different under daylight, warm light and screens.
- Trusting an authenticity card printed by the seller. Only a report from an independent lab, checked against its online database, means anything.
- Ignoring the setting. A gold mounting stamped 18K or 14K may hold more value than the stone.
- Wearing a bangle while testing sound by knocking it on a table. Cracks ruin value.
What to photograph
- The piece in daylight near a window, with no filter, on a white background.
- The piece with a flashlight shining through it in a dark room, to show internal structure and color distribution.
- A close up of the surface at an angle, showing the polish and any scratches.
- Any carving in detail, including the deepest cuts.
- Any metal stamp on the mounting.
- Any lab report, with the report number visible.
When to get it looked at in person
- A gemologist with a refractometer and specific gravity scale can separate jadeite, nephrite and the imitations in one visit, typically for $50-150. A good first step when a piece looks promising.
- A gem lab report from GIA or an established Hong Kong jade lab is the only way to know whether jadeite is Type A. At roughly $50-200 for most items, it is worth it for any translucent green or lavender jadeite that might be natural.
- An auction house with an Asian art department is the right call for antique carvings and for fine jadeite jewelry. Specialists give estimates at no upfront cost.
- A jeweler can test and value the gold or silver setting separately, which matters when the stone turns out to be treated.