BC Nephrite Jade Necklace

This is a High Grade Nephrite Jade Necklace that I recently made for sale.

The Jade comes from British Columbia Canada. The color is a rich light green, almost an apple green. The Jade is nearly transparent and has minimal impurities or fractures. The pendant stone has been cut into a triangle shape with a hole drilled through the side allowing the necklace cord to feed through the stone.

Nephrite Jade is one of two minerals that are considered Jade, Nephrite and Jadeite. Nephrite Jade is a metamorphic mineral often found at tectonic subduction zones where one plate is pulled under the other this usually occurs where an ocean plate meets a continental plate. The convergence creates extreme pressure and heat which transforms weaker minerals and can cause them to recrystallize as a stronger mineral like Nephrite. The west coast of the USA is a large subduction zone which is why you can find Nephrite Jade in California, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia one of the world's largest suppliers of Nephrite Jade.

Nephrite is considered the strongest naturally occurring mineral on earth. While Diamonds are the hardest mineral to scratch Nephrite is the strongest structurally do its interlocking crystal structure. You could hit a rough chunk of Jade with a hammer at full swing and odds are you would do little damage to the stone it is considered tougher than steel. At the same time Nephrite Jade is softer than many minerals only a 6 on the Mohs scale making it a workable material. For this reason, Nephrite was often used by Native Americans for tools because of its durability and workability.

Authentic Jade has a distinct ringing sound when you tap it against metal. This is a good way to separate Nephrite from serpentine. Serpentine has a similar look to nephrite however it is softer and makes a dull sound when struck.

The most common color of Nephrite is Green, but it can be found in Blue, Yellow, Brown, Black, and White depending on where it's found.

I made the adjustable necklace cord with 2mm genuine leather cord. The necklace length is around 30 inches at the longest setting and about 17 inches at the shortest setting.

The dimensions of the Jade Stone are 1.5"x .45"x .25"
The weight of the pendant stone is 25 carats or 5 grams.
The total weight of the necklace is 7 grams.