BenZart...MaoriChief, Glass pendant Update Today - Tiki Carving

P Paipo Member Aotearoa / NZ Joined: Jun 22, 2006 Posts: 1886	P Paipo Posted posted on Fri, Jul 20, 2007 3:54 PM Ben, that might be jadeite, as opposed to nephrite, although it usually has some translucency. A mottled nephrite that has oxidised a lot will produce a muddy brown streak too. I've found that US rockhounds are a little like the Chinese in calling a lot of stones "jade" that don't fit the strict definition (ie nephrite or jadeite), especially when it comes to Californian gemstones. The rockhound/home lapidary craze was contemporary with the tiki fad (ie post-war escapism) and Jade was very popular with its exotic Eastern connotations, so new discoveries of green gemmy material were often named "(insert locale here) jade". Can you a get a extreme macro closeup of the outer weathered surface, and a nice one of the flat face of the unworked slab? That Moai is so cool - what a neat idea, he's brought along a bottle of rum for everyone to share at CoonTiki! Oh, wait.. hang on a sec... :blush:

Ben, that might be jadeite, as opposed to nephrite, although it usually has some translucency. A mottled nephrite that has oxidised a lot will produce a muddy brown streak too.
I've found that US rockhounds are a little like the Chinese in calling a lot of stones "jade" that don't fit the strict definition (ie nephrite or jadeite), especially when it comes to Californian gemstones. The rockhound/home lapidary craze was contemporary with the tiki fad (ie post-war escapism) and Jade was very popular with its exotic Eastern connotations, so new discoveries of green gemmy material were often named "(insert locale here) jade".
Can you a get a extreme macro closeup of the outer weathered surface, and a nice one of the flat face of the unworked slab?

That Moai is so cool - what a neat idea, he's brought along a bottle of rum for everyone to share at CoonTiki! Oh, wait.. hang on a sec... :blush:

Post #320202 by Paipo on Fri, Jul 20, 2007 3:54 PM