Post #439521 by timidtiki on Thu, Mar 12, 2009 1:31 PM

Hello Stone Carvers . . . I NEED HELP!!!

The first picture shown below is the back side of a toki/thumbstone (backlit) that I recently carved from a piece of rough I purchased on eBay about a year ago. It is a beautiful stone and was listed as "synthetic imperial green jade" by the seller in Thailand. That is about all I know about the stone as it was represented.

When carved, the material handles very much like jade but seems a bit harder that the nephrite jade I have carved in the past. The finished surface cannot be scratched by a hardened steel point but show a slight scratch under moderate to heavy pressure with a carbide point. The fracture is not smooth as is glass or agate but is grainy like jadeite.

I haven't been able to find any references to "synthetic jade" on the internet other than a reference to a patented process by GE which I don't think would produce material like the rough in the second picture below.

The last picture is a ring recently listed on eBay by a seller in China. It's color is more true to the color of the stone I have than my picture of the toki. It also shows the interior color structure of the stone I have.

I would lik to get more of this material. Can anybody tell me what this material is and suggest a possible wholesale/retail source where it can be purchased? The original piece of rough that I purchasd was about 3x3 inches and 1/2 inch thick, and cost $35US.

Thanks for any help. Pictures follow:

P.S.: The seller from whom I purchased this rough is not very active on eBay and hasn't responded to my email in recent weeks.