The Hetian jade craze and all the people cheating you!

Ming era mutton fat jade fish?

When I was purchasing my Hetian jade, I was very careful.  I was tricked a few times after sending the piece to a lab only to find out that it had an organic colored coating that I couldn't detect with my loupe.  Here are some answers to what this Hetian jade craze is about and some tips for purchasing.

What is Hetian jade?

Hetian jade is mainly the mineral tremolite.  For those unaware, tremolite has the same chemical structure as nephrite, but it has less iron and more magnesium.  As a result, Hetian jade tends to be more white than green, and the hardness is 5-6 on the Moh's scale, versus nephrite's 6 - 6.5.  Impurities can cause colors such as yellow, brown, red, purple, etc.  I have not yet learned the objective cutoff for iron/magnesium content to separate tremolite and nephrite.

Hetian jade is one of the Four Classic Jades used to make Imperial Seals in ancient times, and it get's it's name from the town of Hetian in southwestern Xiniiang province, China.  Historically, Hetian was a major oasis town during the ancient Silk Road.

During the springtime, as the snow melts in the Kunlun Mountains, small smooth jade pebbles are brought down the mountain to the riverbed.  This jade is known as the "seed" type.  "Mountain water" type are the larger smooth jade boulders found in the Kunlun mountains which transported by floods and glaciers.  Finally, you have the largest boulders extracted from the mines deep in the mountain classified as the "mountain" type.  The seed type is the most treasured of the three due to the color and texture, where even the smooth raw pebbles sculpted only by the river water are collected as is.  The most prized Hetian jade color is called "mutton fat" or "suet", which gets its name for it's pale color and greasy (shiny) luster.

Over the past 15 years or so the price has skyrocketed over 10,000 times (yes, 10,000 times I'm not kidding), causing a tremendous "jade rush" into the region.  Many local blue collar workers have quit their jobs to hunting for jade in the mountains and rivers, or becoming the middlemen between miners and jade wholesale dealers.

Hetian jade classification and fakes

Just like all Chinese classifications for precious stones, Hetian classifications are loose and/or impossible to enforce objectively.  Let's start with the simplest classification and the most difficult to enforce; to Hetian jade it must be tremolite found in Hetian or the Kunlun mountain side facing Hetian.  There is a lot of jade from Qinghai province, which is also a tremolite but found on the other side of the Kunlun mountains in Qinghai province, being imported into the Hetian jade market and sold as Hetian jade.  The same goes for Russian aka Siberian jade, which is also another tremolite jade.

What's the difference between all of them?  Multiple jade dealers told me Qinghai white jade is a more pure white color than Hetian white jade and more translucent, while Russian jade also tends to be more pure white but more opaque.

This is why many Qinghai and Russian white jades are dyed and sold as Hetian white jade.  Some big boulders are even carved to look like river pebbles first and then dyed a pale yellow.  He then showed me a piece of extremely white jade on the internet selling very cheap as Hetian jade.  It was extremely white, he said this is probably Russian jade sold as Hetian jade, which is why it's so cheap.  At the same time, he said if Hetian jade was really this white, it would be sold for 100 times as much.

So basically he just said that Qinghai and Russian white jade tends to be more white, but it's not a 100% distinguishing factor because even Hetian jade can be that color.  So even if you could objectively create a color scale and clarity scale like they have with diamonds, it doesn't apply 100% of the time.

The Chinese government has tried to enforce standards as to what is Hetian jade, using objective measurements such as specific gravity and the like, but it was unsuccessful in drawing a consensus so nothing happened.

Many of these Hetian jades will come with certificates from Chinese laboratories.  They will almost always declare a piece of tremolite as Hetian jade.  I was told as much by a jade dealer.  In fact I have never seen a certificate stating something was Russian or Qinghai jade.  He acknowledged that there is no scientific method to determine the provenance of a piece of jade, and they simply classify put "Hetian jade" as the result probably due to the urging of customers who wish to have their jade classified into a more valuable category.  Many of these certificates will also not test for natural color, which it should mention in the remarks section.  These types of certificates can be made in minutes and for a few RMB, so be careful when purchasing to read the certificate fully and verify the QR code.

Update: 12/7/2018
According to someone I met who works in a Chinese government certified gem laboratory, a few years ago the standards for what can be labeled Hetian jade were put into place.  Hetian jade's definition has broadened to basically include all stones that are over a certain percentage of tremolite (I forgot to ask what the exact percentage was).  I verified what he said via some internet articles on the matter as well, but they also did not list the percentage.

I am guessing the government had the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" attitude.  In other words, because there is no way to scientifically and conclusively prove the provenance of the stone, and because people were starting to be duped and to pay exorbitant prices for what they believed was Hetian jade, they made everything Hetian jade.  Now the power is back in the hands of the jade buyers, to pay based on what they happen to like instead of a dubious classification.

Genuine antique pieces
I'll make this short and simple.  Just like the provenance, there is no 100% way to know about an antique piece unless you pulled it out of someone's coffin yourself.  There is always a way for someone to be fooled.  Having said that, the common things like looking for tool marks is always a dead giveaway.  Don't be fooled by people throwing dirt into the crevices (yes they actually do that).

The mutton fat fiasco

Mutton fat jade used to be sent as tribute to the imperial court in Beijing and one carved piece in the Forbidden City weighs over five tons!

Simply put, Hetian Mutton fat jade (羊脂玉) has a high percentage of tremolite.  Not only are we talking about the lack of iron, but also other impurities.  The purer the tremolite the higher quality and the rarer the piece.

Pure tremolite has slight grayish cyan hue (in Chinese the term qīng sè 青色), a greasy luster, and is quite translucent.  It is actually not supposed to look like mutton fat, which is rather opaque and a yellowish beige.  The term mutton fat actually refers to the greasy feel of the jade.

Fresh mutton fat

This feel of the jade is the characteristic that obviously cannot be conveyed through pictures.  This is a characteristic of tremolite.  A high quality piece really feels wet and slippery even if your hands are relatively dry.

When I first held a piece I was amazed.  I rubbed my hands on my shirt to check if I had any moisture and I even rubbed the piece of jade dry with a cloth.  Despite this, it still felt slippery in my hands.

These requirements are quite subjective.  Just like with all other sub-classifications of jade (moss in snow, Imperial green), etc. there is no hard standard.  As a result there will always be someone (mostly other jade sellers) who will say that something is not "true mutton fat" jade.  Most of the time it is of true ignorance because they themselves have not seen the real thing, or they have read or learned from other sellers purposely spreading misinformation in an attempt to sell their own wares.

However, there are some cases that I have seen that I think most people, except the seller himself, will agree that is not mutton fat.

Truth be told, speaking about the greasy feel, the translucency and the color is just a primitive way to determine if the piece has a high percentage of tremolite or not.  It would be easier if a laboratory could give us some numerical data, but alas here we are.

Green mutton fat?

Go on eBay or any online auction site and search "mutton fat".  Undoubtedly you will see a lot of pale green jade coming up.  The above is too green in my opinion.

Far too opaque to be mutton fat

I saw this listed for an expensive price online.  It had a certificate listing it as natural so that's good.  The seller described it as mutton fat because it is "dense, as it should be".   Sorry, totally false.

By dense he is referring to how opaque it is.  Russian jade often times has this look due to the presence of dolomite. Most likely this is Russian jade.

I've seen worse examples online.  People just cling onto that term and apply it to anything because they know it is so valued, so it's hard to learn from looking at pictures online what mutton fat jade is really supposed to look like.

Tips for purchasing mutton fat jade

Just like with my general tips for purchasing jade, one of the first things you can do is to ask for pictures in sunlight if you are buying online.  This should produce the true color as interior lighting can add tints; yellow tints especially are common from light bulbs and that is something you definitely don't want.  Actually ask for a short video because even an iPhone has built in tools to adjust the color on photos.

If you are fairly sure of the color and luster, then the next question is if the stone is treated.  This is always the greatest problem and for this you will need a certificate.  Like I said, I'm not so sure of the requirements of Chinese certificates.  Each company is different.  Make sure it tests for no luster enhancements or topical colorations, as that will still pass the test to determine if it is really tremolite jade, but will fail you in determining if it's 100% natural.

Again, lab like GIA is unfortunately the only one I would trust.