It is seductive, mysterious, addictive-it's jade. People have died for it. Legends surround it. A Chinese emperor once offered fifteen cities for a jade carving so small that it fit in the palm of his hand. Jade was thought to be a male stone, so naked virgins were sent to gather it from stream beds in the belief that the stone would be attracted to them. Jade has survived floods, fires, burial, and economic upheavals. Not least of all, during the past decade, some jade carvings have appreciated at a rate of nearly three thousand percent. Another plus for collectors is that manly of these treasures are small enough to be easily portable or worn as jewelry.

Jade carvings are hoarded by some shrewd investors and continue to be avidly sought. Jades worth investing in are gem quality Burmese jadeite, the archaic jades from the Han through Sung Dynasties (206 B.C. to 1297 A.D.), or the more recently produced Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) Dynasty pieces. While it is true that some jade carvings can set you back thousands of dollars, fine, authentic pieces can still be bought for a few hundred dollars or less.

Any potential collector must first acquire at least a working knowledge of the mysteries and myths surrounding jade. It was thought to protect the dead from decomposition, so many jades were buried with the deceased. When excavated, these are sometimes called "tomb jades." Chinese authors have called jade "tears of the Imperial Dragon," "a window to reality," "the stone of heaven," "the stone of immortality," and "the living stone." Such references allude to nephrite, one of the two stones which are grouped under the general term jade. The other is jadeite.

When most people think of jade, the color green comes to mind, although jade comes in every color of the spectrum. Pure jade (both nephrite and jadeite) is white. Color comes from impurities of other minerals in the stone. Iron gives the largest variety of colors from pale green to browns, yellows, grays, near black and, on very rare occasions, blue. Manganese is responsible for shades of gray and black and, very rarely, pink. Chromium makes possible the vivid emerald green of the valued Imperial green jadeite color.