Name/Title
Wyoming Oliver NephriteEntry/Object ID
2009.64.23Description
Chemical Composition: Ca2(Mg,Fe2)5Si8O22(OH)2
Crystal System: Monoclinic System
Description: Common name: Jade beads
Chemical comp.:Ca2(Mg,Fe2)5Si8O22(OH)2
Class Silicates
Location: Unknown
Description : A green Jade bead necklace.
Physical Properties:
•Chemistry: Ca2(Mg, Fe)5Si8O22(OH)2 , Calcium Magnesium Iron Silicate Hydroxide.
•Class: Silicates
•Subclass: Inosilicates
•Group: Amphibole
•Uses: asbestos and as ornamental stone used for carvings and semi-precious to precious stone used in jewelry
•Specimens
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
•Color is usually green.white or gray.
•Luster is vitreous.
•Transparency: examples are translucent to transparent.
•Crystal System is monoclinic; 2/m
•Crystal Habits include the flattened prismatic and elongated crystal with a dome-like termination that is actually a two of the four faces of a prism. Also as a fibrous mass (asbestos) and as a fibrous and very compact mass (nephrite jade).
•Cleavage: is perfect in two directions at close to 60- and 120-degree angles.
•Fracture is splintery to uneven.
•Hardness is 5.5 - 6.
•Specific Gravity is approximately 2.9 - 3.3 (very slightly above average for translucent minerals).
•Streak is white.
•Associated Minerals are quartz, lawsaonite, epidote and glaucophane.
•Other Characteristics: the compact nephrite variety is extremely tough and is actually stronger than steel.
•Notable Occurrences include the Lake Baikal Region, Russia; China; New Zealand; British Columbia, Canada and Taiwan.
•Best Field Indicators are toughness (nephrite jade), fibrosity (asbestos), typical green color, crystal habit and hardness.
Amethyst Galleries'
Mineral Gallery
MINERALS
see this List of ALL specimens including SOLD ones
Fracture: Uneven
Hardness: 7 Quartz
Luster: Vitreous
Rock Origin: Post-depositional
Rock Type: Metamorphic
Specific Gravity: 2.9-3.3
Streak: White
Variety: VARIETY INFORMATION:
•VARIETY OF: both jadeite and nephrite
•USES: Gemstone and ornamental stone.
•COLOR: shades of emerald green as well as white, gray, yellow, orange and violet.
•INDEX OF REFRACTION: is approximately 1.66 (jadeite) and 1.62 (nephrite)
•HARDNESS: 6.5 - 7
•CLEAVAGE: does not apply due to massive nature of jade
•CRYSTAL SYSTEM: monoclinic
•SPECIMENS
Jade is a name that was applied to ornamental stones that were being brought to Europe from China and Central America. It wasn't until 1863 that it was realized that the name "Jade" was being applied to two different minerals. The two minerals are both exquisite for the purposes that jade is put to task and are hard to distinguish from each other. So what to do? Leave it alone and call them both Jade!
Jadeite is almost never found in individual crystals and is composed of microscopic interlocking crystals that produce a very tough material. Nephrite is actually not a mineral, but a variety of the mineral actinolite. The nephrite variety is composed of fibrous crystals inter-twinned in a tough compact mass. Other actinolite varieties are quite different from nephrite.
The toughness of jade is remarkable. It has a strength greater than steel and was put to work by many early civilizations for axes, knives and weapons. It was later that jade became a symbolic stone used in ornaments and other religious artifacts during the eons.
Today jade is still valued for its beauty. Its many colors are appreciated, but it's the emerald green color (that jadeite produces so well) that is highly sought after by artwork collectors. This emerald green jade called "Imperial Jade" is colored by chromium. Other colors are influenced by iron (green and brown) and manganese is thought to produce the violet colors. Nephrite is usually only green and creamy white, while jadeite can have the full range of jade's colors.
Amethyst Galleries'
Mineral Gallery
MINERALS
By Name
Groupings
(By Class, Gemstones, Birthstones, etc.)
PropertiesCollection
RAGM Misc. Jade & Amber CollectionAcquisition
Accession
2009.64Source or Donor
RAGM Jade and AmberAcquisition Method
GiftLocation
Location
Display Case
FS-2Room
Frieda Smith HallBuilding
Crater Rock MuseumCategory
PermanentDate
September 16, 2023