[Sca-cooks] Precious stones to ward off evils

[Elaine Koogler]

On Nov 30, 2007 6:13 PM, David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com> wrote:

>
> I think the reason is that botryoidal jade looks
> like kidneys. I don't know if the name is
> directly from that, or indirectly along the lines
> you suggest.


This was not conjecture on my part, but information that I gleaned from Web
sites (not Wikipedia, by the bye), but sites from an international jem
organization.  Of course they could be wrong, but I think it's likely that
they knew what they were talking about, especially as I found the same
information on several sites.  I don't remember which sites they were at the
moment, but I can probably do some reconstruction if necessary.

>
>
> I'm not sure why you regard Jadeite as "precious"
> and nephrite as "semi-precious." I can't speak to
> Chinese usage, but in western terminology both
> are semi-precious stones.


I guess this comes from the fact that I worked with Chinese jewelers in Hong
Kong and Thailand...and in Hawaii...and this is what I was told.  I also
found the information while doing independent research for my Masters degree
at the Freer Gallery of the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C.  Also, as a shopkeeper selling
both types of jewelry, I can tell you that the prices of the two types of
jade, at least in my experience were quite different.  Sometime, go into a
jewelry store that specializes in jade and price a piece of Imperial jade,
one type of jadeite.  Imperial jade is a vibrant green jade that is so
translucent that a newspaper can be read through a 1/8" piece of the stone.

>
>
> My conjecture, incidentally, is that because jade
> was greatly valued in China, rough jade found
> between China and the west, for instance in
> Burma,, would get exported east rather than west.
> Hence the stone was unknown in medieval Europe,
> unlike some other stones that also had to be
> brought considerable distances.


A very plausible explanation.   Your Grace, I don't mean to sound
argumentative...I just wanted you, and the rest of the list, to know that my
statements were made based on some fairly extensive research that I have
done.

Kiri
-- 
Learning is a lifetime journey…growing older merely adds experience to
knowledge and wisdom to curiosity.
                   -- C.E. Lawrence