Materials often mistaken for jade include chrysoprase, maw sit sit, serpentine, hydrogrossular garnet and aventurine.
Portulacaria afra is a succulent species from Africa, also known as Dwarf Jade Plant, Baby Jade, and Elephant Bush. It looks similar to the original jade but has smaller leaves and compact growth. Once established, it's a quick-growing, hardier, and easy-to-care plant than the common jade.
Take the stone in your hand and see how it feels. Real jade should be cold to the touch and have a dense, solid feel. Fake jade is often made from materials such as glass or plastic which are not as dense as real jade. If the stone feels light or hollow, it is likely that it is fake.
Serpentine occurs in a variety of wonderful translucent to nearly transparent green and yellowish green colors that look very much like jade. It is a metamorphic mineral that is often found in the same geographic areas and same types of rocks as jade.
The visual distinguishing features to look for in this type of jadeite are tiny brownish-yellow or black inclusions hidden near outlines of carvings or prong settings (if it is set into a ring or pendant). These dark-coloured imperfections can be omitted from the jade if the lapidary carver cuts around them.
Some highly translucent pieces may have a faint glow but a genuine piece of jadeite does not emit light in the dark or fluoresce under Ultraviolet (UV) light. A chemically bleached piece of jade can exude a pale blue-white glow under long-wave UV light.
Nephrite can be white, yellow, green and brown to black, depending on the amount of iron and magnesium in the mineral. Jadeite can be green, pink, purple, brown and white. Nephrite jade is very tough, the toughest known natural mineral, three times tougher than ceramics and even tougher than steel.
Serpentine is a lovely green translucent, waxy silicate of magnesium. it is often mistaken for various types of jade, and some stones called "jade" are actually types of serpentine. A major difference between the two semi precious stones is that serpentine is softer and less dense than most real jade.
Crassula arborescens ('Silver Dollar Jade')
It is a 2 to 4 ft succulent shrub. It has round gray “Silver Dollar” leaves. This species looks much like the traditional jade plant (Crassula ovata). However, the plump leaves of Silver Dollar Jade aren't deep green but silvery blue with red-tinted edges.
Smithsonite can look at a lot like jade as well. However, it's incredibly rare and very soft, so it isn't typically found in jewelry and usually comes with massive price tags.
Jade in South Australia
Jade deposits near Cowell on Eyre Peninsula are among the largest known nephrite jade deposits in the world.
The term 'jade' is actually a catch-all term that encompasses two separate minerals: nephrite, which is more opaque and traditionally used for sculptural objects and ornaments; and jadeite, which is more translucent and can be polished to a high lustre, making it more suitable for jewellery.
For people who aren't sure if an opaque green gem is chrysoprase or jade, there are many ways to tell them apart. One way is through their specific gravity. While chrysoprase is between 2.59 and 2.61, nephrite jade is slightly heftier at 2.95, and jadeite jade ranges from 3.24 to 3.43.
If the color is dull or flat, it's likely a fake stone. Jade can sometimes be totally opaque, but the opaque stones aren't very valuable. If it looks like there are air bubbles in the stone, then it's likely not real.
For jadeite, the intensity of the green color, combined with a high degree of translucency are the key factors in judging value. Stones which are too dark in color or not so translucent are less highly valued. Color distribution must also be taken into account.
Jadeite comes in a broader range of colors than nephrite which only comes in green, white, and yellow. However, jadeite mainly has varying shades of green that range between apple-green and emerald.
This interlocking structure gives jade its toughness and outstanding workable properties. Even under extreme stress, it doesn't break or deform easily.
The intensity of the colour of Jade will only change due to dirt or grease that can sometimes get trapped on the surface, or if the Jade piece has undergone colour treatment, gradually fading to its original state as time passes.
Color is jadeite's most important value factor. Because consumers traditionally associate jadeite with the color green, it surprises some people to learn that it comes in other colors as well—lavender, red, orange, yellow, brown, white, black, and gray.
The most common color for both forms of Jade is pale green. Emerald-green Jade, known as Imperial Jade, is the most valuable form of Jade. Jadeite is rarely represented in mineral collections, since it is usually uninteresting in its rough form and commercially mined only for gemstone use.
While both are jade, there are significant differences between these minerals. First, jadeite, a pyroxene mineral, has somewhat greater hardness than nephrite, an amphibole mineral. Still, both are susceptible to scratching. On the Mohs scale, jadeite is 6.5-7, while nephrite is 6-6.5.
In its finest form, this bright green ornamental gemstone has a glowing, ethereal quality. Chrysoprase possesses a soft translucence similar to an opal and an intense colour rivalling that of imperial Burmese jade; however, don't be fooled, as it is a distinctly different mineral with unique properties.