While manly cultures, including native Americans and ancient tribes from the South Seas to New Zealand have collected and prized jade, it is the oriental jades which excite most collectors. West Coast jade fanatics are especially fortunate because so many fine jades are available in the area.

So, jade is really a broad category which includes two separate stones. Nephrite is a silicate of magnesium. It is the old, original jade of which all archaic pieces are made. A relative newcomer is jadeite, which comes from Burma and was not known in China until 1784. It was pure white nephrite which the Emperor of China used as an instrument for communicating with heaven. It was nephrite which was used for ceremonial implements and on which the history of Chinese art and symbolism is hinged. Nephrite is the toughest stone on earth: it takes fifty tons of weight to crush one cubic inch of nephrite. Because of its toughness it wears extremely well, and even ancient pieces often appear in flawless condition. Jadeite, however, has a crystalline structure and breaks relatively easily.

Nephrite jade was highly prized by the scholars and moneyed classes of ancient China. When the nephrite deposits eventually began to run low, jadeite was introduced from Burma. At first the jade carvers scorned it, saying it was not true jade. Since it was considered inferior, it was used only as ornaments on clothing or on relatively insignificant personal items. These are a source of interest to today's collectors and can be found as earrings, bracelets, comb backs, mirror handles, buttons, belt buckles and brooches. Gradually, necessity and a scarcity of nephrite caused jadeite to gain acceptance.

Webster's Dictionary defines jadeite as "true jade" but, in fact, the original true jade was nephrite. Chinese legends represent nephrite as a living stone "highly charged with creative force," and there are more than a few jade connoisseurs who would agree that wearing nephrite rings, bracelets, or pendants on a regular basis forms an intimate rapport between the stone and the wearer. Nephrite reacts with the skin and body chemistry, often changing color and growing more lustrous with use.