Real Jade Earrings, Jadeite or Nephrite

44,90 €

Genuine jade earrings, two pierced discs hanging from a short chain and a gold tone hook. The disc turns freely and never presents itself the same way twice.

The shape is called a peace buckle: a flat ring with no sharp edge and no point, which is exactly what a stone of ordinary hardness needs.

Genuine means jadeite or nephrite, never serpentine nor dyed quartzite. Mounted, therefore unweighable, and treatment status not determined. Why I write it.

Category:

Genuine jade earrings mounted on hooks: a small round bead at the top, a short chain, then a pierced disc that hangs and turns freely below it. The green is light, a little milky, translucent at the edges.

In four lines

  • Two pierced discs hanging from a short chain and a hook.
  • The disc turns freely: it never presents itself the same way twice.
  • Gold tone metal, alloy not stated. No stone other than jade.
  • Genuine means jadeite or nephrite, never serpentine nor dyed quartzite.

The pierced disc, a shape that has a name

That small flat ring with a hole in the center is not a jeweler’s invention: it is an old Chinese shape, called a peace buckle, thicker and smaller than the large Bi disc of Neolithic burials from which it descends. It is worn pierced, with no mounting, exactly as here.

What interests me in this shape is physical before it is symbolic: a pierced disc has no sharp edge, no point, no corner. Jade is very tough but its hardness stays ordinary, and it is fine edges that chip first on a worn piece. A flat ring has none. The difference between hardness and toughness.

What genuine means here, and what it does not mean

On this site, genuine jade earrings are earrings whose stone is jadeite or nephrite, and not serpentine sold under the name “new jade” or “Korean jade”, nor dyed quartzite sold as “Malaysia jade”. None of those names designates jade.

Genuine never opposes untreated to treated. That is the most widespread confusion on the market, and it suits everyone except the buyer. The treatment status of these discs is not determined, it is written in the reading above, and no word on this page suggests otherwise. What the letters A, B and C cover.

A pair, therefore two stones

On a natural material, two discs cut from the same block are never strictly identical: one will be a little milkier, the other a little more translucent, and the green will shift by a quarter of a tone. Look at them side by side against the light, that is where it shows.

A pair whose two stones were of a strictly identical green would deserve a closer look rather than celebration: a perfectly reproducible color is what a dye produces, not a rock. I claim nothing about this one, whose treatment status is not determined. The checks that need no equipment.

The hook, and what is better known in advance

The mounting is an open hook, the kind sometimes called a French wire. It does not close: the earring holds by its own weight and by the curve of the wire. It is comfortable and light, and it is also the mounting most easily lost, since a sweater or a scarf is enough to unhook it.

The metal is gold toned. My supplier says neither gold plated, nor vermeil, nor gilt brass, and those three cannot be told apart in a photograph: so the page writes gold tone, and nothing more. On a sensitive ear, take that into account. Care in detail.

Additional information

StoneJadeite or nephrite, not resolved
ColorLight green
Stone shapePierced disc
MotifNo motif
MountingChain
MetalGold tone, alloy not stated
SettingDrilled stone
Worn byWomen
Paired stonesNone, jade only
Mineral familyCalcic amphibole, Sodium aluminum pyroxene
Hardness (Mohs)6 to 7
Reference density2.90 to 3.36 g/cm³
ToughnessExceptional, interlocking crystals
TreatmentNot determined
OriginOutside Burma, country of extraction not confirmed

What tradition attributes to jade worn at the ear

What follows changes register, and I flag it rather than blending it into the rest of the page. Nothing here is demonstrated. These are usages and beliefs, old and documented, that I report because they are part of the history of this stone. No piece of jewelry in this shop is sold as a treatment, and I attribute no effect to this one.

The stone that moves An earring follows the step and the breath. Several traditions have read a meaning into that constant movement; I mention it because it comes up often, without giving it more weight than that.
The ear, a late usage Jade was first an object of ritual, of rank and of power, rarely an earring. The jade ear piece is a recent form, carried by modern trade rather than by tradition.
A stone of moral virtue In Confucian thought, jade is associated with qualities of character rather than with effects on the body: uprightness, constancy, restraint. It is the best documented meaning of all.
The peace buckle The small pierced disc carries a Chinese name that translates as peace buckle, and it descends from the large Bi disc of Neolithic burials. It is one of the few jade shapes whose traditional name is attested and stable.

These readings are told, they are not verified. The moral virtues in Confucius, the virtues attributed to jade, told honestly, and what jade has been in China.

A stone does not replace a doctor and treats nothing: the full disclaimer is here.

Lead Times

Shipped within 48 hours of your order being confirmed, for delivery within 14 days from the day it ships. I keep no buffer stock, and I will not promise a date I cannot meet.

Shipping Costs

€6.99 no matter the destination, and free on orders of €47 or more to France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. The exact amount shows in your cart before you pay.

The Packaging, and Why It Matters

Every piece leaves in its own pouch, kept apart from the others. This is not about presentation: jade’s hardness is ordinary, 6 to 6.5 for nephrite and 6.5 to 7 for jadeite, and the quartz in everyday dust rates 7. Two pieces of jewelry that travel together arrive scratched.

Fourteen Days to Change Your Mind

No reason needed. One email opens a return, and there is no form to fill out. Return shipping is at your expense, unless the piece does not match its listing or arrives damaged.

It is all spelled out here, with no fine print.

The Simple Routine

Lukewarm water, mild soap, a soft cloth. A very soft brush for the hollows of a carving. That is all, and it is enough.

What You Must Never Do, and Why

No ultrasonic cleaner, no steam, no solvent, no heat source. The reason is not caution for its own sake: the treatment status of my pieces is undetermined. My supplier cannot tell me, and the weighing establishes the mineral without saying anything about a possible resin impregnation. Resin withstands neither heat nor solvents, so every piece is handled as though it might contain some. The treatment information page.

The Scratch, and Where It Comes From

Jade is tough, meaning very hard to break: its structure of interlocking crystals resists cracking, and that is what made it possible to turn it into axes in the Neolithic. Its hardness, on the other hand, is ordinary, 6 to 6.5 for nephrite and 6.5 to 7 for jadeite. The quartz in everyday dust rates 7, and that is what dulls a jade, not impacts. The difference between the two.

Day to Day

Put the piece on after perfume and lotion, never before. Take it off for housework, gardening, and sports, where the hard knocks happen. Store each piece on its own, in its pouch. On a strand of beads, the thread wears out before the stone does: it gets restrung, and there is nothing abnormal about that.

Cleaning a jade piece and storing it.

What I Do, and What I Don’t

My name is Jade. I am French, from Morbihan in Brittany, and I live in Tallinn. I choose the pieces and have them set: I mine nothing, I carve nothing, and I do not do the metalwork myself. What I bring is the sorting, and with this material the sorting decides everything.

I am not a gemologist, a lapidary, or a therapist, and I do not claim to be.

I Weigh, I Do Not Certify

Before putting a reference online, I order one example of it for myself. When it reaches me unset, I weigh it in air, then suspended from a thread in a glass of water: the ratio of the two masses gives the density, and that figure separates jadeite, nephrite, serpentine, and dyed quartzite without ambiguity.

One example per reference, and not every piece. I never handle the piece that ships to you, and I would rather say so plainly than let anyone believe otherwise. The method, with its three limitations.

What I Cannot Know

The treatment status of my pieces. My supplier cannot tell me, and neither can the scale: it establishes the mineral, not the resin impregnation. Only laboratory infrared spectroscopy would settle the question, and I do not have that testing done. So you will never read “jadeite A”, “type A” or “untreated” on this site. The information page.

Where My Jade Comes From

No Burmese jadeite, and the first reason is legal. Not the one you read everywhere: the JADE Act of 2008 did ban these stones in the United States, but that ban was lifted on October 7, 2016. What applies today dates from April 8, 2021: the US Treasury sanctioned Myanma Gems Enterprise, the state-owned company that controls the Burmese gem trade. So there is no blanket ban, but an American is not allowed to do business with that entity, and a stone never tells you where it has been. I run one supply chain for ten markets, and it has to stand up to the strictest one. When an origin is not confirmed to me in writing, the listing does not state it. My origin policy.

The whole story.