Although Jade | Jadeite has many colors; the most valued one is green. We are going to discuss how the sublte change in the green color will affect the valuation of the jade/jadeite.
We have to remember color is a sensation depending on the individual receiving it and under what conditions. The same green jadeite looks different under different lighting conditions. (always view the jade/jadeite under natural lighting!!!)
The GIA uses Munsell/HSV model (Hue Saturation Value) to describe colors. For example, a perfect sapphire would be notated as a "B 5/6"
B= stands for the hue -blue
5 is the tone
2 is the level of saturation.
Unfortunately, the jadeite industry never quite follows the standard set by GIA to describe the jadeite colors. The jadeite industry used a modified model to value the green jadeite. The image below shows 5 hues, 5 tones and 5 saturations. Since it is quite similar to the model i learned which is 6 hues, 6 tones and 6 saturations, I will still provide it for your reference, since the image is of better quality. (Sorry i do not know the source of this image).
The four factors used to describe the green jadeite are Hue 正，Tone 浓，Saturation 鮮 and Evenness
均.
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Hue in Green Jadeite
Hue is the combination of primary colors that is RGB (Red, Green and Blue). The hue of green jadeite will be strongly influenced by yellow and blue colors. Perfect green is the most valuable, followed by yellowish green. The lowest value will be bluish green.
- Yellowish green (60 to 65% of the jadeite value)
- Slightly yellowish green (90 to 95% of the jadeite value)
- Perfect green (100% of the jadeite value)
- Slightly bluish green (70 to 75% of the jade value)
- Bluish green (40% of the jadeite value)
- Grayish green (20% of the jadeite value)
Tone in Green Jade
- Extremely Dark (95 to 100%)
- Medium Dark (90 to 95%)
- Medium (70 to 80%)
- Light (50 to 60%)
- Very Light (10 to 40%)
- Colorless or white (0 to 5%)
The best grade of green jadeite will have a medium tone that is 70 to 80%. And this is the standard yardstick. Any green jadeite that has a higher tone will look black. Any green jadeite that has a lower tone will be colorless. And the price will be reduced accordingly. However, valuation of green jadeite may differ from place to place. For instance customers from Northern China and Taiwan would prefer darker tone; while Singaporeans prefer a lighter jade color. Hongkongers' preference is between these two. On the other hand, older people will prefer darker tone while the youngsters like lighter tone. An important point to note is that the tickness of the jadeite will influence the tone.
Saturation in Green Jadeite
Saturation is the purity or intensity of the hue. The scale goes from 1 to 6. The lowest grade means the hue looks grayish; and the highest grade means pure in its hue.
1. Grayish (0 to 5%)
2. Slightly grayish (10 to 40%)
3. Very slightly grayish (50 to 60%)
4. Moderately Strong (70% to 80% without any gray)
5. Strong (90 to 95%)
6. Vivid (95%)
Evenness in Green Jadeite
Uneven color is a special feature of Jadeite, since it is formed by microcrystalline. We can check the evenness in green jadeite from the top, bottom and side of the jadeite stone.
The more even the green color is, the more valueable the jadeite is.
If a jadeite bangle has 20% of green color, concentration on an area is more valueable than it is spreaded all over the whole bangle.The six grades of evenness is as follows:
- Very Even (95 to 100% of the jade has green color)
- Even (80 to 95% of the jade has green color)
- Moderately Even (60 to 70% of the jade has green color)
- Moderately Uneven (40 to 50% of the jade has green color)
- Uneven (25 to 30% of the jade has green color)
- Very Uneven (10to 15% of the jade has green color)
