South America jade

Farther south, nephrite is known to have been used for tools by aborigines along the Amazon River. A small nephrite deposit has been found in place in Brazil. Old jade objects are known elsewhere in South America, but there are no obvious sources of the material other than those already mentioned. The original natives of what is now the United States did not develop a jade industry. No artifacts have been reported in spite of the presence of significant jade deposits which have been found in recent years in the western states. By far the most important find in the United States occurred in 1942, in the countryside near Lander, Wyoming. Here the jade was collected as pebbles and boulders, some as large as the nearly 2500-pound piece in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Most of the jade had remarkably uniform texture and quality which made it ideal for carving.

The color range was wide, including good green, greenish-brown, gray, and jet-black stones that are used for wedding bands. Many tons were gathered, and already the best-quality material seems exhausted. Other sporadic finds of jade in California have maintained a lively interest in prospecting. Both nephrite and jadeite have been found there, but quantities are not large, nor is the quality exceptional. The beaches of Monterey County have yielded numerous pebbles and boulders of rather poor-quality nephrite, with the bulk of the recoveries being made in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Jadeite, previously known only in Burma, was discovered in San Benito County in 1936. Subsequent finds led to a jade rush into the area in 1950. These finds predated the rediscovery of Guatemalan jadeite by almost twenty years. Little jade of any value for carving has come from San Benito County, but the discoveries point out the possibility of eventually finding some jadeite at least as good as that used for the best Central American artifacts.

Jade in Japan

A very small jadeite deposit in Japan and a more recent discovery of mostly dark-green nephrite in Taiwan complete the inventory of jade sources in the eastern part of the world. Some of the Taiwan jade has already made its way into western markets to add to the meager supply from Russia and Burma.
But what of the western world? Surely there must be a more plentiful supply there. In actual fact, a quick survey shows jade to be an uncommon mineral.

As someone once said, “When scientists say jade is geologically fortuitous and the Chinese that it was a gift from Heaven, they agree in all except terminology.”

It is agreed that the arts of jade carving in Central America and China reached their highest artistic levels at about the same period in history. In China, although the jade supply was not native, there were at least some records of possible sources and these have now been pretty well identified. All traces of American sources were lost before and during the Spanish conquest. The great mystery for centuries had been the unexplainable high development of jade carving in Central America with no obvious sources of material. The implication was that somehow jade was imported by long-lost trade routes from other parts of the world. However in 1955 the rediscovery of a jade deposit in Guatemala was reported. This jade was obviously the same kind of green diopside-jadeite used by the Mayas, Aztecs, and others. The problem was solved. Unfortunately, very little jade is added to the world’s current supply from any Central American source. Also check princess diamond earrings.