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Fifty shades of jade: Why Chinese buyers spend

millions on this stone
By Georgia McCa erty, for CNN
Updated 0621 GMT (1421 HKT) September 27, 2016

Photos: Shining a light on jade's secrets

Jade is growing more popular in the West. Here actress Jessica Chastain attends the 2014 Hollywood p
carved jadeite earrings.
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(CNN) To the untrained eye it's a simple piece of

jewelry -- but don't let its modesty fool you.

Story highlights
Growing demand and falling supply have seen
prices for jade sky rocket in the past decade
The price rises have seen Chinese buyers
increasingly look for quality over style, and
attracted a growing Western clientele

This vivid, emerald green jadeite bangle is expected to

sell for HK$50 million to HK$70 million ($6.5 to $9
million) when it goes under the hammer at a Sotheby's
auction in Hong Kong in October.

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This simple jadeite bangle is expected to fetch between HK$50 to $70 million ($6.5 to $9
million) when it goes under the hammer.
Jade is revered in China, with a cultural signicance that dates back thousands of years and a value that
was cemented by China's Qing dynasty emperors, who prized it for its purity.
But as China's rising wealth sees demand for jade jewelry grow, and supply out of Myanmar dwindles,
prices for jade have risen exponentially, sparking a change in the styles preferred by Chinese buyers, and
attracting a new group of Western admirers.
"With China opening up in the past decade, we have seen a new wave of collectors to the market. The
auction market for jadeite has grown tremendously in the past 10 years," explains Chin Yeow Quek, the

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chairman of international jewelery at Sotheby's in Asia.

Fifty shades of jade

There's no denying the rising price of jade. Aside from million-dollar bangles, jade jewelry of the the right
color and quality, from necklaces to earrings and pendants, has all been attracting serious money.
The most expensive piece of jade jewelry -- a necklace with a ruby and diamond clasp by Cartier that
once belonged to the American heiress Barbara Hutton -- sold at a Sotheby's Hong Kong auction in April
2014 for $27.44 million, well above its $12.8 million estimate.
"It can be very crazy prices," says Chiang Shiu-Fung, an associate vice president and jewelry specialist
with Christie's Asia, who quoted an old Chinese saying "gold has a value; jade is invaluable."
However, not all jade is equal, and being able to di@erentiate between types and qualities -- and being
able to spot a fake -- is critical, if not always easy.
Jadeite, the purest, most translucent substance that comes in a multitude of colors, from deep greens to
lavender, white, and black, is the hardest and most valuable form of the stone, and most often turned into
jewelry.
Lesser quality nephrite, a softer, cloudier stone that comes in an even greater array of colors, is also
classed as jade, but is more commonly used for carvings.
Low quality industrial jade, and products made from cheaper-quality stone can also be treated by adding
color or polymer to enhance the visual appeal of the stone to make it look like the real thing.

Every piece of jade is di3erent and the most valuable form of the stone -- Jadeite -- lacks
an international standard for grading, unlike diamonds and gemstones.

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Although most experts can tell the di@erence between these products with a visual assessment, it's not
always reliable, and without any established international standard for guidance, even specialist jade
experts can only be 80 to 90 percent sure whether a stone is pure jadeite using that method, according
to Chiang.
"If you really want to be 100 percent sure that a piece is jadeite or some other kind of material, you have
to send it to the laboratory," he says.

Even if a product is found to be pure jade, any kind of

adulteration or treatment signicantly reduces the
value of the stone, and Chiang says that only "totally
untreated, natural jadeite" can be classied as an
"A-grade" stone.
"In terms of the jewelry market, whatever gemstone it
is, the natural one is the most desirable because it
comes with natural beauty. Whatever humans can do
articially to improve the color, this kind of treatment
lowers the value greatly."

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diamonds 03:32

Supply-driven style

When it comes to high-quality jadeite, growing demand among China's increasingly wealthy and middle
classes have had a signicant inuence on rising prices.
Dwindling raw jade stocks in Myanmar, which supplies the vast majority of the world's jade and is the only
source of high-quality stone, has also compounded the issue.

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diamond goes on sale 01:10

Auction houses in Asia, where the vast majority of jade

is sold, say this has led to a change in the styles of
jade being sought among collectors, with a growing
emphasis on quality factors like color and
translucency.
"While we saw consecutive records set in 2013 and
2014, Chinese collectors these days are becoming
more selective and are after pieces that are truly
special and rare," says Sotheby's Chin.
"Nowadays people are looking for simple items in
terms of the style," adds Chiang. "People, especially
jadeite collectors, are looking for the material, the
quality of the stone."

On the retail end, the increased price and awareness

of the stone has expanded the markets among
Western buyers -- Nicole Kidman and Jessica
Chastain among them -- and further segmented the market.

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Actress Jessica Chastain shows o3 her jade earrings at the 2014 premiere of "Interstellar"
in Hollywood, California.
From a high-end retail perspective, personalization and uniqueness are the most important elements for
customers according to Eddy Hui, the artistic director of Edward Chiu Jewellery Art in Hong Kong, who
says that tastes di@er between more traditional Asian customers and his growing Western clientele.
"Purchasing jadeite jewelry often comes with sentimental reason for general Chinese, and they pay
attention to color and translucency. More Western clients are into ne workmanship, carving details, and
they are crazy about originality," he says.

Choosing wisely
Whatever the preference or budget, jade's broad classication means it's important to choose a piece
wisely, and Chiang says there are a few key things laypeople can look out for when purchasing.
Firstly, the texture of the stone should be ne, as this enhances the stone's natural translucency, which is
itself is another critical factor -- the more light that can be seen through a stone, the more lustrous and
valuable it is.

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The color, tone and translucency of jade are all critical factors in its valuation.
The color of the stone also signicantly inuences jadeite's value, and whether it's green, lavender or
white, the color should be as pure as possible, with a strong saturation and a bright tone.
"Let's use green as an example: you have to go for straight green, purely green. When the green is a little
bit bluish, forget about it," explains Chiang.
Finally, bigger isn't necessarily best.
"If you have to choose between a large, commercial-quality stone and a small, better quality stone, go for
the small one. We are buying a gemstone, we are not buying a brick. Large doesn't mean anything," says
Chiang.
But technicalities aside, jewelry designer Hui says it's all a matter of choosing a reliable seller, and following
your heart.
"Jade stones are like us: always unique," he says. "Love at rst sight is actually the best way to connect to
your own piece. Like seeing Mr. Right, you know it when you feel it."

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